PANJIM: The Aam Aadmi Party’s stand on mining in the manifesto for the 2017 elections, and its support by the Goenchi Mati Movement has put the onus on the Congress to respond and for the BJP in its manifesto to defend to suggest alternatives to recover the money lost to the people of Goa, through illegal mining. 

The manifesto blames successive Congress and BJP governments in Goa for “shielding the corrupt in the mining sector and ignoring the plight of mining-affected people.” If AAP comes to power, efforts would be made for “world-class, corruption-free, and sustainable mining in Goa,” the vision document states. 

“AAP government will send corrupt miners to jail and recover Rs 36,000 crore from the mining mafia,” the document elaborates.

AAP has also assured a compensation package for mining industry dependents by creating a corpus of Rs 400 crore. “The first installment of compensation package will be released within first quarter of AAP government,” the manifesto says.

The Congress and BJP manifestos are not yet released. The Congress has so far not been in a position to lay down its mining policy document since it was in the heart of illegal mining. The BJP’s main challenge will be to respond to the unemployment issue due to mining closure which has not been addressed adequately.