A couple of weeks ago we reported how there was flurry of rental leases being terminated in the mining belt. The majority of the ‘mining affected’ who were outsiders and tenants simply got up and left when the sector closed shop.While this was a reflection of who construed mining dependents, the voices one hears are of those who’ve always lived here. And their stories have not changed much. What has changed though is that many ‘mining affected’ are not Goans.But no one articulates that. It’s best to let everyone speak freely though not agreeing with most of what they say. But here goes.
The summer heat sprinkles gloom over Dhabal! The entire Dharbandora region, parts of Uguem, Sanvordem and even Xeldem and Xelvona have a dust settled on the hard shoulder of the road, reminding of the last mining activity, before it was shut on March 15, 2018.
After the stoppage of mining for over five years, villagers saw some hope in mining activity. And April-May was supposed to be the big month – no school, no school buses plying on the route, lesser traffic and just two months before monsoons set in, and the mining dependents were looking ahead to better times after years of loses.
“ When you drive from Xelvona and you see those crushers, digging machines and hundreds of trucks parked from a single mining company and it will give you an idea of the manpower that ran all that machinery and transport vehicles. You can do your mathematics to understand how many people took home a livelihood and had some income to make good of their debts that existed from the previous mining ban,” explains Julio Souza, who feels helpless, staring at unemployment again.
Lucio Pereira from Dhabal explains how his three trucks were stalled from the 2012 mining ban and how he hoped he could make few trips from the scaled down mining affair of 2017-18.
“ I pawned my wife’s gold to paint my trucks, carry out the passing and get them back on the road, I even got two drivers from Andhra to live in my house extension, as I was looking at only making good the loans from these trucks and selling them before I move on. Now I have the debt of my wife’s gold ornaments, ready trucks with no takers and more debts from this mining ban,” says Lucio Pereira and asks Is it his fault that the lease renewals were illegal from the government.
Like Lucio, there are many truck owners who took short-term high-interest loans or personal loans or even loans in the open market hoping to quickly pay these loans and close their loans of 2010, which they were defaulting since March 2012 and now find themselves in total disarray.
Sheila Gawas shows us her home and the effect the mining ban has had on her family. She recollects her husband’s struggle in 2012 during the mining ban when he died suddenly leaving her with heavy debts.
“There was no mining then, he took to drinking in frustration and he died. I struggled to restore our fallow fields and return to agriculture, to make a living and feed my boys. My son just finished his class 12 and was working on one of the mines at the weigh bridge and they have told him to stop coming to work at Codli,” explains Sheila, who hopes that many youngsters like her son who are losing their jobs on the mines don’t take to vices and hopes the government will intervene.
“How are we to move forward this way? Firstly there’s no employment, then due to mining we bought a truck, mortgaging the house; then came the mining ban and unemployment and we survived on some mining dependent dole and went through the struggle of daily bank notices on our equipment and the threat to seize our property, then came this ray of mining and now the ban again, just after we were ready for the mining season,” she said, adding that people may make it look like they’re the ones into illegal mining.
Jayesh Dessai is upset to lose out on his business at his painting and dent removal unit he recently setup near Curchorem hoping to draw mining trucks for some business. Pharmacy and restaurant owners too are unhappy with the decrease in the number of clients.
Dharmesh Khotkar has stated that he and his family will leave behind this bad time and try to seek employment in another mining region in India.
The abandoned along the road and the visible sadness in Sanguem villages show that all’s not well after the ban.
