NEW DELHI: Around 500 mining dependents from Goa began a 3-day demonstration in Delhi to coincide with the start of Parliament’s winter session to draw attention of the MPs to their demand for resumption of mining activities in the State that have been stopped by the Supreme Court since March 15, for the second time in a decade.

The demonstration is being organised under the banner of the Goa Mining People’s Front. Around 300 people arrived for the protests in the capital on Monday and 200 others on Tuesday. Police allowed them to agitate at the Ramlila Ground on Tuesday and Wednesday while allowing them to move to Jantar Mantar, closer to Parliament, only on Thursday.

NCP MLA Churchill Alemao was the first to reach the venue while Union Ayush Minister Shripad Naik and BJP MPs Vinay Tendulkar (Goa BJP chief) and Narendra Sawaikar arrived soon thereafter to hold discussions with the agitators, but declined to take the mic. Shiv Sena MPs addressed the gathering, promising to raise the issue in Parliament. 

The first to reach the agitators from the Congress side were Ramakant Khalap and Francisco Sardinha, who promised them that their party was concerned over the livelihood of thousands destroyed by closure of the iron ore mines. They said Congress President Rahul Gandhi may also visit them to express solidarity to their cause.

The agitators’ front convener Puti Gaonkar said, “We have been agitating in Goa as the mining ban has brought tremendous hardships to the people of Goa and we are now here to demand an amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act to allow existing mining leases to be renewed faster, instead of a long drawn process of fresh auctioning of leases only after fresh environmental clearances as laid down by the Supreme Court in its February 7 order.”

Dismayed at that the Bill for amending the Act that was repeatedly promised by the BJP leaders finds no place in the legislations listed by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who is also the Minister for Mines, for the current winter session of Parliament, Gaonkar hoped the demonstration by the affected people will sway the MPs to pilot an amendment on their own and force the Government to accept it for restarting the mining activities at the earliest.

The Supreme Court had struck down renewal of all 88 mining leases by the Goa government under its Grant of Mining Lease Policy, holding it as violation of its judgment on April 21, 2014 to allow conditional resumption of mining in the State.

Inquiries with the agitators showed that their travel, food and lodging in the capital have been financed by the mine owners who have even sent their managers for coordination with the mining people’s front.