Reginaldo, however, has openly batted for compensation for the beleaguered truck owners to facilitate repayment of their loans.
Addressing the media, Reginaldo sought to know why the Chief Minister has decided to squander these mines for a paltry stamp duty of Rs 380 crore. “Mining lease applications were pending since 2006. Almost for six years, Congress had never promised anything or renewal of leases. It was Parrikar who gave the anti-people promise to renew mines. These mines if auctioned would have fetched at least Rs 27,000 Rs 35,000 crore to the public exchequer which is around four times more than Goa’s annual budget”, he said.
The Curtorim MLA further demanded to know whether the Chief Minister had consulted the people of Goa before while promising these few companies on the leases. “Why should the people of Goa bear this huge loss? Doesn’t Parrikar know the iron ore belongs to the people of Goa? Can he deny the ‘infantile wisdom’ of giving up 27 iron ore leases for mere Rs 380 crore?” he asked.
He said the BJP government under Parrikar should now ensure that Goa does not suffer for its “lack of common sense of uncommon degree”, a title attributed to it by the Supreme Court in NEET fiasco. “Parrikar’s “promise” inflicts huge loss on the 15 lakh population while frittering away State’s wealth for few companies. Is not such a promise anti-people, arbitrary and capricious?” he asked, while stating that the Advocate General had stated in the media that auctioning and appeal of the matter in the Supreme Court was the only option before the state government.
“All these rigmarole when the Prime Minister talks of auctioning of iron ore which is one of the natural resources of the country and that too which is going to be exported and not for local use”, he said.
