PANJIM: The linkages between the mining lobby and power centers in Goa have become the focus of national media. The Indian Express on Tuesday morning reported on TMC’s endorsement of the work done by the leading environmental NGO Goa Foundation’s mining road map. The road map includes the acceptance of the mineral wealth of Goa belonging to the peoples and the state being the custodian of those resources.
“Mining and power are inextricably linked in Goa. The Trinamool Congress, the latest entrant in state politics, bracing to contest all 40 seats in the upcoming Assembly polls, says it hopes to break that link by throwing its weight behind a radical roadmap for the sector’s regulation,” Express reports.
The Express report states that TMC has pledged to back Goa Foundation, “the organization instrumental in getting the SC to ban illegal mining in the state in 2018”. Most importantly GF has backed the “Mining Manifesto” of the Goenchi Mati Movement.
“This mining ‘manifesto’ calls for sweeping reforms: from the recovery of Rs 35,000 crore in dues from losses due to illegal mining to transparent and competitive bidding for extraction of ores; from safeguarding of revenue by sale of ores by a state-run body to ensuring that its dividends are paid directly to people,” Indian Express reports.
The manifesto, highlighted several times by Herald across the years, has five key points
– Mining dependents will benefit
– Mining affected will benefit
– Government of Goa will benefit
– People of Goa will benefit
– Future citizens of Goa will benefit
And it has one key bottom line: Miners can get up to 20% return but no longer loot.
The Goa Foundation, before the last Assembly election, had introduced the Goenchi Mati movement. ‘Goenchi Mati Permanent Fund’ to ‘preserve our ancestral wealth for future generations’. ‘Goenchi Mati’ literally means ‘soil of Goa’. The core of the Goenchi Mati philosophy is to set up the ‘Goenchi Mati Permanent Fund’ to preserve our ancestral wealth for future generations.
“The plan also entails monitoring the sale of ores in stockyards through CCTV cameras and electronic documentation linked to a central monitoring facility. And generating employment through the restoration of the mining area”, the report states.
On the eve of the 2017 election, the Goenchi Mati movement had launched the ‘Stop ore chor’ campaign. They called upon people and all political parties to sign and support the mining manifesto and transfer wealth earned from mining from the big mine owners to the people. No political party signed up. TMC is the first party to do this.
In a direct endorsement of Goa Foundation’s work, the first party ever to do this explicitly, Derek O’Brien, TMC’s Parliamentary party leader in Rajya Sabha, was quoted in the Indian Express as saying, “There has been no recovery of the huge losses from the state-sponsored mining loot. The cumulative loss due to illegal mining in Goa is Rs 35,000 crore. If this money had been recovered, an amount could have been put into the account of every Goan. This wealth will enable a dividend for every Goan, today, and in the future. We admire and appreciate the work being done by Goa Foundation on this.”
He added in the report, “TMC offers a real solution to the mining problem in Goa. It’s a comprehensive policy to benefit all Goans. If it gives the entrenched ‘mining lobby’ sleepless nights, so be it.”
“For Goa Foundation, this (TMC’s support) means a lot,” said Claude Alvares, director, Goa Foundation. “I feel they (TMC) are taking up an issue with a stand. We do not endorse any (party) but if one of them is taking the issues up, there is a good chance that we can move the discussion forward.”
