Team Herald
PANJIM: The Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF) has made an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention for immediate resumption of mining.
In a press statement, the Front apprehended that Goa might lose its third consecutive mining year to the ban imposed post Supreme Court decision.
“By various estimates, Goa has so far faced a loss of around Rs 7,000 crore in the last two years due to the mining stoppage. If mining activities are not resumed immediately, the loss to the State can go as high as Rs 10,500 crore,” said GMPF president Puti Gaonkar.
All mining activities in the State ceased on March 15, 2018 following the Supreme Court’s decision to quash renewal of 88 mining leases. This affected 3 lakh-odd lives across the State. Gaonkar brought to the notice PM’s election campaign acknowledging severe impacts due to stoppage of mining while assuring that required intervention for immediate resumption of mining in Goa would be made.
“But decisive steps remain to be taken. If an immediate solution is not developed, the fate of Goans will languish amid a global economic slowdown during a pandemic,” he added.
The GMPF has further urged Governor Bharat Singh Koshyari to put forth the issue before the Central government. The forum also hailed former Governor Satya Pal Malik for his act of mobilising a righteous course of action to protect the livelihood of lakhs of Goans during his short tenure in the State.
“In the absence of mining activities generating livelihood in the State, Goans stare at a bleak future egged by financial uncertainties. The multitudinous job loss in the State has fostered a mammoth challenge for Goa which was already suffering from an economic downturn. Goa mining dependents are still waiting for ray of hope which could be only possible through immediate resumption of Goa mining,” he said.
“One fifth of Goa’s population is dependent on mining and this year’s mining season will start just after monsoon. If the highest judiciary does not take an urgent decision on the resumption of mining in the upcoming hearing on August 26, the third consecutive mining year will go to waste. We are highly troubled by the continuous postponement of allotted hearing dates and repeated issuance of new ones by the courts without any conclusive decisions being reached. Immediate resumption of Goa mining industry is crucial now to save the State’s economy and revive livelihood of over 3 lakh people who are directly and indirectly dependent on mining for survival,” GMPF vice president Balaji Gawas added.
