Opposes package to mining truck owners
TEAM HERALD
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MARGAO: Vehemently objecting to the Chief Minister’s financial package for the mining truck owners, the United Goans Democratic Party has said the government should instead work out a financial package for sand transporters out of business and make sand available at cheap rates.
“The mining truck owners are very much part of the illegal mining business a la the mine owners and deserve no compensation. They were into big time business and it’s indeed surprising that the government is paying them huge amount of compensation”, UGDP leader Radharao Gracias said on Wednesday.
Instead, he said the government ought to have worked out a financial package for sand transporters out of business on account of the Goa government’s ban on sand extraction in Pernem and Karnataka’s decision to stop export of sand to Goa.
“The government should compensate the truck owners who were eking a living by sand transportation. They are the people who are affected the most because of the ban on sand extraction” he said, while demanding that the government should ensure that sand is made available at reasonable rates to Goans and that the transporters gets business.
“Anyone who wants to build a house in Goa cannot get sand. In fact, sand has become costlier in Goa than cement. The big-time builders are getting their sand requirements but the common man is put to great hardships”, he said.
