The recent fatal accident in Curchorem once again puts the spotlight on the issue of mining trucks sharing road space with the general public in the absence
of a proper mining corridor, which would negate this issue. The proposal of a mining corridor dates back to the mid-90s, when a house committee recommended the same. But the decisions took a long time, with protests and
lack of logistical support when it came to planning and mapping the corridor. Things took a positive turn in 2011 when the then Chief Minister Digambar Kamat announced that the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) would
undertake the project and commence work on the first of the
three phases. There was opposition to this from some areas,
and morchas in Sanguem demanded the realignment of the
corridor, claiming that it passed through human habitat.
In 2012, when the BJP came to power, Manohar Parrikar,
who was chief minister at the time, visited the area and promised
to expedite the work. But in
2012, the mining shut-down slowed
everything down. The contractor
stopped work and everything came
to a standstill.
There have been protests for and
against this mining corridor. Some
organisations and people feel that
the corridor will destroy a lot of forest land, especially in the
second phase, and perhaps even some human habitat. Those
for it feel the need to do so for many reasons, dust pollution
being one of them. But the biggest reason is that there have
been many accidents on the roads in and around Curchorem
and the surrounding areas, which warrant the creation of a
separate highway for mining trucks. In 2014, the BJP government
discussed restarting the work on the corridor. But it
wasn’t until the recent accident that the voices for the corridor
have started getting louder.
There was and is no real opposition to the corridor; most
people want it to happen on a war footing. Back then, the mining
companies were for this move, even willing to shell out
funds and form a corpus for the corridor. That phase one of the
project will be re-tendered and work started means that there
will be some respite soon. But there is no substance in the demands
for all mining transport to be stopped until phase one
is completed. One cannot shut down businesses until then.
There are three constituencies that are stakeholders in this
project “ Curchorem with MLA Nilesh Cabral, Sanvordem
with MLA Ganesh Gaonkar and Sanguem with MLA Subhash
Phaldessai. Since all are BJP MLAs, they have the power to
open doors and speed up this process. Phase two of the mining
corridor has hit a few roadblocks in terms of land acquisition,
which are not insurmountable problems.
The government needs to take cognisance of this matter and
start work on the mining corridor immediately. At the same
time, there must be some effort to enforce law and order on
the roads so as to avoid accidents in the future. This corridor
is pertinent to the business interests in the region as well as
the interests of the people, who simply want their roads back.
