Team Herald
PANJIM: Blaming the State and the Central governments for the ongoing mining crisis, hundreds of people dependent on the iron ore mining industry on Monday issued a final ultimatum to the governments to resolve the imbroglio by March 15, failing which has threatened to hold mega protest outside the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant’s residence on March 16.
The mining dependents under the banner Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF) have threatened to hold a massive vehicle-rally to the Chief Minister’s official residence, Altinho-Panjim, if government fails to resume the full-fledged mining activities by March 15.
They said that nearly 6,000 vehicles that include trucks with machineries would be parked outside the Chief Minister’s residence, while barges will block entire River Mandovi.
It was three years back on February 7, 2018, that the Supreme Court quashed the second renewals granted to 88 mining leases in Goa, terming it as “illegal” that resulted into closure of the industry since March 15, 2018.
A review petition challenging the order, filed by the State government, is currently pending before the Apex Court.
The peaceful march was held from KTC Bus Stand to Azad Maidan. The march concluded with a public meeting addressed by the GMPF leader and other dependents.
In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failed assurances, GMPF leader Puti Gaonkar blamed the Prime Minister for failing to live upto his promise to work out a solution to the mining issue, haunting over three lakh people, since 2018.
“We have got a Prime Minister, who only promises but does not deliver,” he said.
Gaonkar said that GMPF has tried all possible options to ensure the resumption of the mining industry, but nothing seems to be working.
He said that people approached everyone, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, but there is no solution as of now.
He said that if an immediate solution is not developed, the fate of Goans will languish amid a global economic slowdown during a pandemic.
“If no solution is worked out by March 15, we will hold a mega protest outside the Chief Minister’s residence. We will bring our trucks and machineries and parked there. Barges will be anchored in the River Mandovi,” he said.
