PANJIM: Days after the Bombay High Court at Goa temporarily halted iron ore transportation activities through Mayem village, the villagers have decided not to allow any mining related activities until restoration of their village and fields, which are destroyed due to mining.
“We want our village and fields should be restored before any mining activities are allowed in the village. The government should provide all relief to the villagers and farmers,” said Mayem Shetkari Sanghatana President and former sarpanch Sakharam Pednekar.
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Addressing media persons, Pednekar said that mining activities have destroyed their village and agriculture land.
He said that the silt from the excavation and screening process has choked their fields, rendering them useless for farming.
He said that the government has also failed to pump out water from mining pits and make it available to the villagers for agriculture.
The farmer said mining company has its mining pit at Dhabdhaba, Bicholim, and the water from it is released into the Bicholim River without being used.
The villager said, “The water could be utilised properly if it was diverted to Mayem village for plantation purposes.”
Earlier, last week the Division Bench of High Court of Bombay at Goa stopped ore transportation through Mayem village due to lack of monitoring of air quality by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB).
