PANJIM: Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant will chair a meeting next week with State officials and representatives of Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF), to discuss ways to resolve the deadlock towards the resumption of the iron ore mining sector in the State, which has been shut since March 2018.
Sawant on Friday met representatives of GMPF, an umbrella organization of mining dependents, wherein the latter demanded that mining activities should resume from the upcoming season, beginning from November, next month.
Speaking to media persons post the meeting, the Chief Minister said he will hold a meeting along with the Advocate General, the Chief Secretary, Mines Secretary and GMPF, next week and discuss measures. “They (Front) have come up with suggestions to restart mining. Let us see what they have to say,” Sawant said.
GMPF has been pressing for a legislative amendment to the Goa, Daman and Diu (Abolition and Declaration of Mining Leases) Act in a bid to extend the life of leases till 2037 and so also to fast-track the Goa mining case pending in the Supreme Court.
GMPF leader Puti Gaonkar said the “ball is now in the court of the government”. “It is now for the government to act and restart mining activities at the earliest. We want it by coming season in November. Let government tell us what it intends to do,” he said.
Gaonkar said that the front has already proposed various suggestions but no results as yet. “We have requested government to file an application in the Supreme Court to take up mining matter on urgency,” he said.
Banking on the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) (Amendment) Act 2015, which has extended the life of iron ore mining leases for a period of 50 years, the Goa government in November, 2019, filed a review petition before the SC pleading to fast track the case.
Mining activities in the State have come to a halt since March 2018, after the Supreme Court quashed second renewals granted to 88 mining leases.
The Chief Minister last month called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a legislative cure for resumption of mining activities in the State. Sawant was supposed to have another round of meetings in New Delhi this month, however, this has been postponed after Union Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi tested positive for COVID-19.
