PANJIM: Mayem villagers got relief from unabated ore transportation after the High Court of Bombay at Goa on Wednesday granted an ad interim stay on the activity.
In its order, the Division Bench comprising Justice M S Sonak and Justice R N Laddha directed halting the ore transportation due to lack of monitoring of air quality by Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB).
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The Court has, however, granted liberty to the transporting mining company to approach the Bench for vacating the order as and when monitoring stations are set up by GSPCB.
Two village associations of Mayem had filed a Public Interest Litigation on behalf of villagers and farmers of Mayem to stop the illegal transport from a mining dump through the village road of Mayem.
As per the petition, Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG) allowed transportation of iron ore through the Mayem village road from May 2020, in complete violation of the guidelines issued by MOEF&CC and despite objections of the villagers.
“The permission was also in violation of the 17 conditions laid down by Goa State Pollution Control Board in a letter dt. 06.02.2020. DMG before allowing the transportation of ore did not inform the GSPCB about it which is in violation of the directions issued by the GSPCB and the directions of the Supreme Court judgment in Goa Foundation,” the petition said.
The petitioners stated that by allowing such transport, DMG violated the fundamental rights of the villagers of Mayem, who have been denied access to pure air, water and healthy life. “When the villagers decided to hold a peaceful protest to oppose the illegal and polluting transport, the police, instead of investigating the complaints of pollution and the legality of the transport, manhandled and arrested the villagers including their sarpanch. Petitioner states that there is a dire need for investigation into the entire e-auctioning exercise relating to this activity. There is a significant gap between the minerals on the lease as declared by the Goa government and the ore that is being e-auctioned by the DMG,” it said, seeking detailed investigation to bring out all the details of the impugned e-auction, including the manner in which a dump has been shown as a stack.
With serious questions arising from the prices at which the ore from the dump has been sold in the auction, the petitioners said they filed this PIL.
