Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF) has renewed its appeal to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention for the immediate resumption of mining operations in the State. Their apprehension is that Goa might lose a third consecutive season due to the ban on operations that has been imposed by the Supreme Court. The mining season annually opens in October, and there is just a little over a month that remains before the season can officially start. Their plea stands on the argument that lakhs of people in Goa depend on mining for their livelihood and the long stoppage of operations has hit them badly.
A day prior to the GMPF making this appeal, Goa Foundation that is a party in the mining case in the Supreme Court had, through a video of its director suggested re-commencement of mining operations but with certain riders. Goa Foundation director Claude Alvares was clear that their main contention and main argument has always been that mining can take care of some of economic and unemployment provided that it is done in a way that will benefit everybody. The foundation’s contention is that mining activity can be carried in such a manner that the environment is not damaged and that the wealth from mining is not unevenly distributed. This is not a new pitch from the Goa Foundation, but one that has been renewed.
Before coming to that, we need to look back at how and why mining activities in the State came to a close on March 15, 2018. This happenned after the Supreme Court quashed renewals of 88 mining leases. Coming down heavily on the Goa government, the SC held that ‘the second renewal of the mining leases granted by the State of Goa was ‘unduly hasty’ and not in the interests of mineral development’. It directed the State to ‘take all necessary steps to grant fresh mining leases in accordance with the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957’ and also asked the Union Environment Ministry to grant fresh environmental clearances to the firms successful in obtaining fresh mining leases.
As already asked by Herald in its Sunday Review section of August 23, why is the government not initiating the process to auction the mining leases and begin operations? This is what the Supreme Court has recommended and would be the most practical approach. Instead, the government is seeking to go back to renewing the old mining leases and for that wants a legislative cure that till date the Union government has not given. Another question, if not auction, why is the government not laying the groundwork to start a State corporation under whose aegis mining operations can be undertaken? The auction process will bring in more revenue to the government as new players will come in, while setting up the corporation will ensure that more people will benefit from mining. What’s stopping the government from anyone of the two options? Will the review petition it is pursuing in the Supreme Court help?
Whenever mining restarts in Goa it should be with all the necessary checks and balances in place. There has been time to clear up the sector which has not been utilised positively – neither to restart mining operations in a holistic manner nor to recover the losses due to illegal mining. The best solution today would be form a mining corporation that would distribute the revenue from the natural resource to all Goans. The government has to consider this rather than seeking to restart mining by renewing the leases that have been quashed. Years have already been lost, and every day that the government spends without taking the steps towards forming a corporation only delays the process further.
