ix mining companies, 1182 trucks transporting iron ore on the road passing through Sonshi village and 350 people, the pollution is bound to happen. The grimy houses, vehicles laden with dust and causing pollution in the air, is a common scenario in this village. Sonshi has been in the news for last couple of days due to increasing air and water pollution caused by transportation.
The struggle of Sonshi people against the pollution is dotted with anecdotes after anecdotes of how district administration and police took them for granted. As one enters Sonshi village, tucked between Digne and Honda villages, one has to ask where the affected houses are exactly located. The screen of dust has enveloped the trees and the road is lined up with the mining firms extracting the ore.
If you visit this place after 6-7 pm, then your entry is assured but before that you will have to snake through the line of trucks that are busy transporting the ore from the mining site to the jetty.
“They can very well avoid taking Sonshi road which passes through the village and go from other side. But they don’t do it as it saves them travel of six extra kilometres,” explained Suraj Gawade, a youth in his late 20s, who is these days busy travelling between Colvale Jail, court and the village.
“All the pollution norms are thrown to the wind. No one is bothered. Only when there is inspection, you will see the roads being cleaned up. Officials from Goa Pollution Control Board will collect dust samples only from those stretches where it is clean,” he charged.
The dusty houses and dried up wells are enough barometer to understand the extent of pollution in this village. “There is no water in the wells. We have to wait for the water supply from the mining firms,” said Yashodha, an elderly woman, who was standing next to dozen of barrels of water, all empty.
“The water which is supplied to us is not potable. Look at the condition of the tankers which carry the water; they are corroded,” she said. “But we have no choice. The option is between remaining thirsty or accepting this contaminated water,” she added.
The villagers claim that their fight against the transportation of ore and pollution actually had began on January 27 this year when they had met police and district administration officials at Bicholim.
“Police Inspector Dipak Pednekar kept on delaying on the suggestion to hold meeting with the mining firms. He went on giving some or other excuse,” said Devidas Gawade.
People erupted in protest this month when they were being constantly ignored by police and district administration. On the first day when they stopped transport, they were put under preventive arrest and lodged in Bicholim police station.
The village that has quite a good population of small school going kids is worried about their health as the increasing pollution is taking a toll on them. “Every alternate day, you will find kids falling sick. There is no fresh air in the atmosphere that these small kids can inhale. Hence, they fall sick. This affects their school attendance badly,” a teacher from the primary school explains.
Having no health centre in the village or nearby, the villagers mostly opt for home remedies. If that does not work out, then the villagers have to travel all the way to Valpoi health centre.
The parched village of Sonshi was once upon a time agriculture based economy. The people here were involved in farming, but now the paddy fields are turned into iron ore dumps.
For past eleven days, there is holiday for the schools, and the village has turned to be quiet. The only sound one hears is of trucks ferrying ore or other mining activities.
The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) that conducted the inspection and monitored the air ambient quality has observed that there are dust particles in the air – which are basically due to transportation of ore. The Board noted that the mining firms have violated the conditions led down in the Consent to Operate under Air (prevention and control of pollution) Act and therefore are liable for action.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has warned the mining firms will cancel their leases, if they fail to address the population’s issue in the village.
