31 Jul 2021  |   06:09am IST

First undo damage caused by illegal mining, says NGO

Goa Foundation says no fresh extraction be allowed unless lands, fields and rivers desilted and rehabilitated; Objects to CM as chairperson

Team Herald

PANJIM: While welcoming the State government’s move to establish the Goa Mineral Development Corporation, NGO Goa Foundation has demanded that no fresh extraction of iron ore should be allowed unless the damage caused due to rampant illegal mining is repaired, dumps placed outside the lease boundaries are removed along with other restoration. 

In a statement issued on Friday, GF Director Claude Alvares also said that with the setting up of the Corporation, the government should immediately pass an order reserving all mining in the State to the Corporation. Objecting to the appointment of the Chief Minister as the chairperson of the Corporation, Alvares demanded that it should be run by professionals and not politicians. 

“No fresh extraction be permitted until and unless all the damages wrought at the hands of the private mining industry be repaired, lands, fields and rivers desilted and rehabilitated, all existing illegal dumps placed outside lease boundaries are removed and returned to mining pits,” he said. 

Stating that the features of the Bill are routine and unexceptional, Alvares said that while dealing with mineral resources belonging to the people, a Corporation with a different character needs to be preferred.

“Nevertheless, the government is to be congratulated for introducing the bill, considering that the idea was opposed tooth and nail by the mining lobby,” Alvares said.

The green NGO said that once the GMDC becomes a fact, the government needs to pass an order reserving all mining in the State to the Corporation. “An order under Section 17A of the MMDR Act, 1957 needs to be issued. This will eliminate the need for the GMDC to obtain leases located in Goa through auction, as it can get them directly from the State government,” he said.

Alvares said that the present Board of Directors, as constituted, will result in the Corporation not running efficiently or properly. “Chief Minister as chairman is a bad idea, not only because of conflicts of interest, but also because the Corporation needs professional people to run it and not politicians. GMDC must be a professionally-run Corporation,” he said.

GF has recommended that GMDC should recruit employees and workers of the mining industry that has been irrevocably shut down by a series of Supreme Court orders.

It also suggested shutting down the Department of Mines and Geology that acted wholly irresponsibly in the management of Goa’s mineral ore wealth.