PANAJI
Aam Aadmi Party has welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday reconfirming that mining leases in Goa must be auctioned through competitive bidding.
In a press release, questioning the government’s repeated attempts to renew the existing mining leases, State Convenor Rahul Mhambre has slammed the government for making the state’s economy and the mining dependents suffer for years, despite suffering multiple setbacks in the Supreme Court.
“Instead of following competitive bidding in the auction of mining leases, CM Sawant is doing the bidding of his bosses in the mining lobby. It has been almost a decade that mining dependents and the state’s economy have suffered due to the government's greed and incompetence,” Mhambre said.
Mayem AAP leader Upendra Gaonkar said this suffering could have been avoided had the BJP put Goa first, and restarted mining activities under a Goa Mineral Development Corporation years ago. Gaonkar recalled that AAP had made this specific promise in its 2017 election manifesto, and opined that Goa’s economy would have been in A much better condition if that had been done.
“Even now, after the GMDC bill has been passed by the Assembly, Sawant is avoiding the next steps. Why isn’t he following up with the Governor regarding the status of the bill? Even AAP met the Governor and requested him to give speedy assent to the bill, but it appears that BJP is happy to allow the bill to languish in the Raj Bhavan. It is obvious the BJP only want to use the bill as a jumla before elections to get votes, but does not actually want to restart mining under the Act and displease certain lobbies”, Gaonkar charged.
Sanguem AAP leader Gourisha Gaonkar said the Supreme Court has completely exposed the government in its observation that “If the state follows the transparent procedure, it will ensure the best revenue and the best realisation in the interest of the state”.
