In a span of 20 days since the Shah Commission report (withall parts not yet submitted), a series of decisions has plummeted the industrytowards complete and indefinite closure. But the misery will actually hit homeon Monday, October 1 when, barring temporary operations if at all “ for theremoval of already mined ore, all arms of the industry will shut down from pitto ship.
The Manohar Parrikar government realises that the unrestcould become serious. Mines Director Prasanna Acharya told The Goan, “We areanticipating huge social tension and anger and this will become more acute fromOctober 1, when the season is supposed to start, but actually will not.”
Within the government, there is growing concern. UrbanDevelopment minister Francis D’Souza echoed this growing sense of worry. Hesaid, “Honestly, we had it under control and would have allowed the legal minesto start operating by October 15. The arbitrary decision of the center tosuspend EC clearances issued by them has taken the matter out of our hands. Weare actually helpless right now.”
D’Souza reiterated the fallout of this “This isn’t a smallindustry. People will come out and thegovernment will have to deal with this.”
The issue has already moved to the streets. Demandingimmediate start of all legal mines in the State, All India Trade Union Congresson Thursday joined a protest rally organised by more than 500 mine workers inthe city. AITUC General Secretary, Christopher Fonseca led the workers protestrally in the city, which later culminated at Azad Maidan in Panjim.
The protesters also demanded that the loss caused to thestate exchequer due to illegal mining should be recovered through the legalcourse.
“We demand immediate start of all legal mines, as more thana lakh of workers are dependent on mines,” Fonseca said, after submitting amemorandum to the Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar.
Fonseca’s support is significant, since it takes the falloutof the mining closure away from mine owners to its greatest area of impact, thestakeholders. The mining industry in state generates huge employment andengages over 30,000 truck drivers and cleaners and 400 marine barges, whichtransport ore from jetties to the port, which employs more than 6000barge-crew.
However, resumption is a long way off. With EC licenses of all leases kept inabeyance, no mining activity of any sort can commence till these leases are restored.But quite clearly, a huge factor towards restarting the industry will be thefinalising the buffer zones around eco sensitive areas like national parks andwildlife sanctuaries. In a very significant development the Central EmpoweredCommittee constituted by the Supreme Court has submitted its recommendation forbuffer zones to the court. Of the six wildlife sanctuaries and one nationalpark, the buffer zones recommended according to their areas are: For threesanctuaries it is 100 metres, for one national park and one sanctuary its 500metres and two other sanctuaries its one kilometer. However the absolutefinalisation of this process will depend on the Supreme Court which will heargovernment bodies and ministries on the subject only in mid-November.
While taking drastic corrective measures, including criminalaction against those involved in and supportive of illegal mining, should neverbe lost sight of, the government or the people of Goa can’t just look away whenthe livelihood of one third of its population, is kept in indefinite abeyance.
