The
Déjà vu of health hazards and pollution cannot return to the mining belt. Why
should the villagers who had breathed fresh air in generations when mining
stopped see the dark and polluted days again? In order to restart mining
somehow before the elections the villages should not be littered with ore
droppings and face health hazards with a rise in lung ailments.
Shockingly, it’s been a decade since mining was
stopped primarily due to the Court’s intervention and yet the mining corridors
which would transport the mining trucks, away from pristine and tiny villages
have not been built.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
While lakhs and lakhs of square metres have been
acquired expand highways and construct bypasses to transport coal-laden trucks
from the port to Karnataka and other States, an activity that does not benefit
a single Goan, mining corridors will save many Goans from getting suffocated
and choked with mining dust and iron ore droppings.
While the District Mineral Fund has been diverted for
other purposes from time to time, there is enough money to build multiple
mining corridors, if from the potential interest going by the Rs 35,000 crores
recovery amount (Shah Commission) from mining barons.
Simply put the long-time sufferers of mining need
immediate relief from ore transportation which has to stop immediately.
