PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Thursday asked the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) to visit the mining affected areas within a week before deciding on utilising the Rs 180 crore funds that are available.
The Division Bench comprising Justices Prithviraj Chavan and N M Jamdar also granted Directorate of Mines and Geology two weeks to file its compliance report, while DMF has also been asked to ascertain the requirement of the mining affected people, particularly in Sonshi and Pissurlem.
After the hearing, Advocate General Dattaprasad Lawande said the Division Bench said that some members of the foundation can visit the affected areas and ruled that the members should know the problems faced by the villagers which are affected by the mining industry. Among the villages, Sonshi and Pissurlem are the worst affected, he added.
The Court, at its last hearing, had slammed the State government for failing to utilise Rs 180 crore deposited in the DMF which is meant to undertake projects for the mining-affected people. It thereafter asked DMF to meet in the first week of April for identifying the projects.
An amount of Rs 180.338 crore is currently deposited with DMF that includes Rs 94.848 crore in North DMF and Rs 86.490 crore in South DMF, which are earmarked for the benefit of the mining affected persons.
