Herald: Goa Foundation has spearheaded the movement against illegal mining but you seem to maintain absolute silence to what’s happening in Cavrem
Claude Alvares: Not really silent, I have just been studying the issue. Firstly, I agree with the stand of Ravindra Velip and the locals there. Whatever the Mines Department and the government of Goa or the Chief Minister may say, the ore in Cavrem, the roads in Cavrem and everything in Cavrem belongs to the locals and they are the real owners. Why can’t these mining firms involve them in transportation or take them into confidence and hire them, instead of bringing outside trucks and lifting the ore and disturbing them with heavy traffic? I support the idea of the locals wanting a co-operative of their own to co-ordinate mining transport in Cavrem and the mines around it.
Herald: What’s wrong if mining firms bring their transport and have all their consents in place and do their business from the mines?
Alvares: Firstly, these mining companies declared that only 50 million tonnes of dumps lay around the mining pits. Then the government, through mines director Prasanna Acharya, tells us that only 15 million tonnes of the confiscated iron ore is sold through e-auction and that the price of iron ore in the international market is dirt cheap. Which sensible government will sell or auction at these dirt cheap rates and make less revenue? The truth is the Mines Department has not verified this confiscated ore at 50 million tonnes, the ore is sold dirt cheap and the mining firms have a cartel where they have purchased the ore around their own leased pits and are now pulling out the confiscated ore in the name of export along with millions of tonnes of ore that was not declared earlier and even more weird, mining firms around Cavrem besides pulling e-auctioned ore, are also extracting and adding to the dumps. Should the government not disallow this and say, listen, you pull out the e-auctioned ore and let’s start fresh and account all new dumps to assure, mining is done as per the cap. This is all illegality.
Herald: Do you feel the locals, are doing this as a pressure tactic, to get a kickback and threaten mining companies? The cheque payments indicate bribes paid in 2012.
Alvares: Have you heard of a bribe being paid through a cheque payment that is accounted for in the books of accounts? Obviously not. The mining firms should show the particulars as to what were these payments made for. May have been a payment for some work, or a payment for some lease or something executed. Simply showing a photocopy of an old cheque means nothing. Mining companies are diverting the attention and the government is supporting all this and the local MLA is hand in glove with the mining companies. We will raise these issues in the court and lend our hand to the people of Cavrem. The locals need to stay united and intensify their agitation to curb mining illegalities.
