The allegations made by the Goa Mineral Ore Exporters Association that it was not ore dust pollution that led to the protests at Sonshi, but essentially insecurity of a section of the villagers who failed to get their trucks hired for the transportation of ore, need to be substantiated. Mere statements, some 45 days after the Sonshi issue broke through, are not enough, especially when air monitoring in the village has found that the pollution was above permissible levels.
According to GMOEA, mining companies employed truckers from Pissurlem to ferry ore from the mines in Sonshi to the jetty, and the villagers objected to this indicating it was not fair and that the transport business should have been allotted to them. According to the mineral ore exporters association, it was this that led to the villagers of Sonshi stopping ore transportation through the village, and that the ‘basic issue was employment and utilisation of trucks’.
To recap, the Sonshi issue broke out in mid-April when the villagers, protesting the dust pollution in the village due to mining transportation, stopped iron ore transportation through the village resulting in the arrest of 145 residents of the village who then spent days and nights in the judicial lockup at Colvale jail as they did not have the money for the bail bond. Their plight, and that of their children at home, was extensively reported by Herald, and the 145 persons were finally freed from the lockup after a mining company itself came forward to meet the bail bond.
The issue led to the Goa State Pollution Control Board monitoring the air at the common air ambient quality monitoring station at Honda and then withdrawing the consent to operate under the Air and Water Acts to 12 of the 13 mines operating in the village, as the pollution in Sonshi had exceeded the permissible limits. The mining firms were then asked to prepare an action plan to control air pollution in the area and submit it to the Board, for further decision. The mining companies and GSPCB have been at loggerheads since then, with the data gathered by the board and that gathered by the companies was not matching. Till date the companies have not been permitted to restart mining operations.
Now, the mining companies, seeking to restart operations at Sonshi, say that they should not be penalised for any faulty readings of the ambient air quality. They also claimed that it was not dust pollution but business and jobs that led to the protests at Sonshi. Why did the ore exporters association have to wait until now to make this claim? There is less than a week before the mining season will end, so restarting operations at the mines in Sonshi at this point of time in the season will not result in any big gains for the companies, but the allegation could further upset the delicate balance of trust between the mining companies and the villagers of Sonshi.
The entire episode at Sonshi and the ore exporters association claims, underlines the urgency of having dedicated mining corridors that would not traverse residential areas, but skirt them, keeping the villages free of dust pollution. Mining companies must accept the responsibility in getting the transport corridors constructed.
Similarly GSPCB must look into the mine owners concerns on the positioning of the ambient air monitoring stations. The best solution to this would be having a team comprising members from the industry and the pollution board, along with independent consultants, preferably scientists, deciding where to position the monitoring stations. Another suggestion of the mining companies, to phase out the current 10-tonne capacity trucks and replace them with larger capacity trucks, needs to be looked into. It may not only ease the pressure on the roads, and also benefit the environment.
