the goan I network
PANAJI
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told his Cabinet colleagues that with no concrete proposal coming from the Centre, the mining imbroglio which has been hanging fire for nearly a year will have to be resolved by the State government and not the Centre.
He, however, did not elaborate what will be the modus operandi his government will adopt to validate or issue mining leases and restart operations which were halted by a Supreme Court order in March last year.
Emerging out of the meeting, TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai told the media that Parrikar during the Cabinet meeting held at his private residence in Dona Paula on Monday evening asserted that the issue of restarting operations in Goa’s iron ore mines will have to be handled by the State government and not the Centre.
Sardesai, however, said that the chief minister did not fix a time limit or articulate what this solution of the State government will be to resolve the impasse.
Mining in Goa had come to a standstill since mid-March last year after the Supreme Court in February last year declared illegal the 88 leases which were renewed by successive BJP governments of Manohar Parrikar and Laxmikant Parsekar in 2014-15. The Supreme Court also ordered a halt of all mining operations, including transportation, from March 15, 2018.
The impasse left thousands of mine workers and small businesses, including barge and truck owners who are dependent on the industry, without any avenues. Many of them have taken to the streets building up pressure on the State government to come out with a solution to get the industry started.
In August last year, Parrikar had petitioned the Union Mines Ministry with a request to tweak the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulatory Act, so as to circumvent the Supreme Court order. He had also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and personally requested him to use his offices to ensure the necessary steps are taken but the response from the Centre has been ambiguous.
Another option that the State government has put on the table is amending the Goa Daman and Diu Mining Concessions Act, 1987, to revalidate leases which had lapsed.
Come out with concrete plan, don’t make it ‘poll jumla’: Cong
PANAJI: Threatening to take the mining issue to the people’s court, the Opposition Congress on Monday said any claim of resolution of the imbroglio by the BJP-led ruling coalition should be backed by a concrete plan of action and not be an ‘election jumla’.
“The BJP should first apologise to the mining dependents for fooling them with empty promises of restarting mining. Also, whatever they claim they will be doing now they should come out publicly with a concrete plan of action,” Opposition leader Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar said.
Kavlekar was addressing a press conference at the party headquarters on Monday, flanked by AICC general secretary in-charge of Goa Dr Chella Kumar, GPCC president Girish Chodankar and GPCC media chairman Ramakant Khalap.
Kavlekar also said that the BJP and Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar are known to use the mining issue for electoral gains and cited the infamous PAC report of 2011 authored by him and claiming a Rs 25,000 crore mining scam under the Congress government, to buttress his claim.
Kavlekar said, Parrikar himself had subsequently scaled down the scam with on record statements saying it amounted to only Rs 3500 crore and his government was unable to find any evidence despite investigations for so many years and attacked the BJP of creating false narratives targeting the Congress only for the purpose of winning elections.
Meanwhile, the Congress will be lending its support to the Statewide bandh called by the Goa Mining People’s Front on February 26, Kavlekar said.
