Bureaucratic bottlenecks may delay but not stop Sonshi’s fight for justice

Justice, a word whose meaning is difficult to fathom, or a dream which gets further and further away from reality, does elude the villagers of Sonshi. Unexpected bottlenecks come in the way of some closure to their fight for clean air and water. The main outcome of their close to a fortnight long agitation, would have been a closure of ore transportation or even the temporary stoppage of mining till the pollution levels were brought down to limits permissible.

It is beyond doubt that the dust filled roads of Sonshi have brought back nasty memories of the boom period of mining, where water levels were affected, and pollution related health setbacks were common.

With children taking to the streets to demand the release of their parents who preferred jail for stopping mining trucks from passing through their village, the anger in the village is palpable. What is important here is that while the most virulent of anti-mining agitations have happened in the deep south, the Sonshi incidents, in Sattari in north Goa, will be benchmarked as the first people’s agitation post resumption of mining after three years.

The agitation led to the High Court, the Human Rights Commission and the Pollution Control Board take independent and yet related actions. That is why administrative bottlenecks should not delay the first slices of justice ready to come the villager’s way. It is clear that the Pollution Control Board which conducted the inspection of the ambient air quality in Sonshi, prima facie found dust in the air and violations of conditions led down in the Consent to Operate granted to the lessees. 

This is not surprising. There are 800-900 trucks operational at these mining sites, who carry out on an average 4000 trips daily. However, the villagers point that the trips are not less than 8000 per day, which according to locals and local activists, transport almost one lakh tonnes of ore daily. Even in times of truncated mining, the movement is enough to cause environmental damage, unless tackled with urgency right now.

The Pollution Control Board had initially observed that the mining lease holders have violated the pollution norms while undertaking transportation of iron ore at Sonshi village. And yet, the file containing these findings, needs a formal vetting by the Chairman Pollution Control Board. In the absence of a full-fledged Chairman, the file is with the Chief Secretary who is functioning as the Chairman. While this cannot be the Chief Secretary’s personal fault, the fact remains that the crucial body is without its main appellate authority under the Air and Water Pollution Act, to issue order for necessary action against the violators of Air and Water pollution norms. 

Only a full-fledged Chairman can ensure that there is a faster turnaround time for decisions to be made and implemented. Having said that, it is vital that the mines department and allied bodies take a holistic view of environment, health, employment of locals, as parts in the entity and not isolated issues, to be solved at ease, under the tutelage of different ombudsman.

What happened in Sonshi should also be a lesson for all those in the business, that you cannot delink the locals from the effects of mining operations. The environment needs to be mitigated both really and figuratively, before producing and transporting even 20 million tonnes annually. And this time, even time in jail won’t be deterrent for those who want cleaner, healthier villages.