Early Friday morning, a mud and boulder slide at the Hatti Gold Mines (HGM) in Lungasur taluk, Raichur district, claimed the life of one laborer and injured four others. The slide occurred at 3 a.m. during the night shift at unit 3, known as Mallappa shaft, which operates 2000 feet underground. Raichur Superintendent of Police Uttam Mahadevaiah confirmed the incident, identifying the deceased as 38-year-old Mounesh Amarappa. The injured, Shivaraj Veerappanna, Parushram Hanasanna, Budeppa Hanumant, Rangaswamy Venkatesh, and Hanumantraya Medinapur, were transported to various hospitals in Hatti, Bengaluru, and Belagavi.
In response, laborers boycotted work and protested under the CITU and SC-ST factions, demanding accountability for the negligence of safety norms. Protesters highlighted previous warnings about potential disasters that were ignored by authorities. Mahantesh Kallur, a CITU office bearer, criticized the inadequate protective gear and poor living conditions of HGM laborers, who reside in a colony lacking basic amenities. The high-security nature of HGM restricts workers’ interactions with outsiders, isolating their concerns.
The protest included demands for ₹50 lakh compensation for the deceased’s family and ₹10 lakh for each injured worker. It was called off after district administration officials assured the highest possible relief for the victims. Inspector Honakerappa confirmed that the post-mortem and last rites of Mounesh Amarappa were conducted under high security, and the labor organization CITU was expelled from the HGM zone during this process.