Team Herald
PANJIM: Slamming the BJP-led government for the second renewal of 88 iron ore mining leases, Goa Foundation director Dr Claude Alvares has accused the government of “not learning any lessons from its past mistakes” and “allowing iron ore extraction by those who had left the State in such a stage of scandal that the industry had to close down for the past three years.”
Opining that operations in the mining industry can resume tomorrow, Alvares, the petitioner in the Supreme Court in the illegal mining case, appealed to the State government to retain the ownership of the ore, recruit companies to extract the ore and then sell the ore. The environmentalist appealed to the people to support this move.
“In January the government renewed 88 mining leases to a couple of lease holders. These are the same people who left the State in such a state of scandal that the industry had to close down for the past nearly three years,” Alvares said, adding “government by renewing the mining leases has proved that these people were not involved in any illegalities.”
“I am not saying I have lost faith in the mining industry but I have lost faith in the government. It is a shocker that the lease renewal document does not even mention from when the lease life of these leases starts. The move is to continue to loot the public money till 2027,” he said. Alvares questioned as to how many times the government wants him to approach the Court in relation to every illegality in the sector.
