“The government has taken 40 precious years of my life, used me and left me to die when their work was completed,” rued 79-year-old K Esavel, a resident of Karnataka’s Kolar Gold Fields.
The gold fields are about 100-km from Bangalore. Operated by the Bharat Gold Mines Limited, a public sector undertaking, the KGF was the world’s second deepest gold mine at a depth of 3,000 metres. The mines remained active for 121 years before it experienced an unsystematic closure on February 28, 2001. The mines were closed owing to high operational costs and low revenues. The area has an interesting history too.
“It was once called mini England and the KGF was the first Indian city to be electrified in 1902,” Esavel told Mongabay India. “The British government had also built a lake to meet the water demands of the area.”
“When the mine was operational, the area did not…