PONDA: With mining ban in the State completing four years, the Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF), which represents over three-lakh mining dependents of the State, on Tuesday appealed to the Central government and MLAs in the State to facilitate immediate resumption of mining.
GMPF President Puti Gaonkar said that the Supreme Court judgement dated February 7, 2018 in the Goa mining case ordered closure of mining operation cancelling the second renewal of leases granted by the Government of Goa, affecting the livelihood of over three-lakh mining dependents in the State with over 75,000 employment in the State.
“The State government under the leadership of Dr Pramod Sawant has been promising resumption of mining activities since he took over the charge as Chief Minister of the State and has made umpteen attempts to convince the Central leadership for a solution, but the attempt has not yielded any results,” Gaonkar said.
“The Central BJP leaders including Union Home Minister Amit Shah has again assured solution within six months resolving the Goa mining stalemate during the recent Assembly elections campaigning. The GMPF now demand that the promise of solution within six months be treated as an agenda to deliver and not just another election gimmick like in the past. Now that the party has got a second term, the GMPF urges the government to immediately act in the matter,” he added.
Further, Gaonkar said that the Goa mining dependents have completed four years of financial turmoil and have eroded all the savings. It is unfortunate that the livelihood plea of over three-lakh people is simply ignored by the Central government.
