Chief Minister Pramod Sawant dashes off to Delhi and is believed to have met with Home Minister Amit Shah and other Union Ministers and discussed the vexed mining issue of Goa. A statement is released saying the Centre is optimistic about restarting mining activity at the earliest with both legislative and judicial cure being considered. The question is: how many times are people of Goa going to hear the same assurance?
In the past year and a half, assurances of resumption have been given over a dozen times. The same message is played out to people, ditto. There are no details available on the plan of action, or steps initiated so far. If we may recall, even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a bid to appease the distressed mining-dependents in the State had vowed a couple of times in the last two years “to leave no stone unturned in reviving mining operations”.
The only announcement repeatedly playing out is that the State and Centre are seized with the issue of mining ban, and holding constant interactions since 2018. What are the outcomes of these detailed discussions on mining with Amit Shah and other Union ministers? And what is new in the subject line? We are not questioning the seriousness of the issue at hand, but we indeed doubt the urgency. Releasing statements on mining without any concrete direction for nearly two years only gives rise to suspicion on backroom agendas that could be pursued in the name of mining.
Resumption of mining operations is crucial for the economy of the State, and there are no two ways about it. If the government had to go full throttle and exhaust all its options, it was during the last six months when the State was reeling financially. The timing now appears suspicious against the backdrop of burning issues playing out.
The need of the hour for the State government is to salvage the crisis of coal and double-tracking with Central intervention. The CM reiterates that coal handling at MPT is going to be curtailed by 50 per cent and assures to reduce it in a phased manner further. The Goa State Pollution Board is directed to assess pollution levels. There have to be strong follow-up action and confidence-building moves, not just assurances.
Interestingly, while the chief minister and the State Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral seek to dispel concerns raised over using double-tracking to enhance coal transportation, a recent letter written by MPT deputy chairman Guruprasad Rai to the Secretary of Union Minister of Shipping is in complete contrast. One of the four projects that MPT has dropped from its master plan is of a coal terminal at the outer harbour, and the reason cited is a delay in railway track-doubling. The cracks of public distrust on the ruling are only widening.
Recalling one of the most famous quotes of Abraham Lincoln: You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
