Team Herald

PANJIM: Irked with no solution to the mining imbroglio even after 18 months of stoppage of operation, the mining dependents have now urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to urgently intervene for early resumption of mining in the State.

The dependents have urged Shah to convene an urgent meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to resolve the long pending issue.  

In a press note issued here, Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF) said they want Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant to meet the Home Minister at the earliest on the issue.

“We have sought an appointment of a committee under the leadership of Chief Minister Dr Sawant to meet Shah and present their case to him again,” the GMPF leader Puti Gaonkar said.  

He said that as per information provided by Goa government a review meeting was scheduled on July 31, but no such meeting was held.  

On July 12, Shah had directed the GoM to study the Goa mining matter and come up with recommendation on solving the deadlock.  

“Since then, no information or intimation has been received from the government,” said Gaonkar further adding that speedy resumption of mining would help sustain livelihoods and also provide boost to the State’s ailing economy.

The GoM, which has been formed to examine the vexed issue of mining in Goa, includes Union Ministers for Finance, Environment, Agriculture, Mining, Commerce and Industries, Petroleum and Law and is led by Shah.

"The complete closure of mining in Goa since March 2018 has had a devastating effect on the dependents of the industry. This has severely impacted the State’s economy and resulted in a heavy drain on the revenues," Puti Gaonkar, president of the Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF), said.

The mining industry in Goa has come to standstill since March 2018 after the Supreme Court quashed 88 mining leases.