Panaji (Goa) With the BJP leaders from Goa getting poor response for their efforts to get centre’s attention to stop the mining industry from facing the crisis, the party is all set to make another round of meetings with its leaders in Delhi tomorrow.
All the three BJP members of Parliament from Goa including two Lok Sabha – Shripad Naik and Narendra Sawaikar and Vinay Tendulkar (Rajya Sabha) – will be meeting union shipping minister Nitin Gadkari tomorrow,Monday. They will also try to meet party’s National President Amit Shah over the issue.
The order of Supreme Court (SC) that was pronounced on February 7, 2018 has banned fresh mining of iron ore in the coastal state from March 15 onwards, quashing renewal of 88 mining leases. The apex court has asked the State to go for auctioning of the leases, till then the extraction has been banned.
“All the three of us (MPs) will meet Gadkari tomorrow in Delhi as we want centre’s intervention to save the mining industry from the State from facing the crisis. We will also invite him to Goa to hold meeting with the BJP legislators and alliance partners including MGP, Goa Forward Party and Independents,” Tendulkar said.
“We need to work out solution for the crisis collectively as the issue is concerning the industry which has employed several lakh people for so many years now,” he said.
The RS member also said that they will be trying to have an appointment with party president Amit Shah on the issue tomorrow in Delhi.
Responding to a question, Tendulkar, who is also party’s state chief, said that though both the Houses of Parliament are in session, passing of ordinance to keep in abeyance the SC order on Goa’s mining leases is not possible as it will require support from the opposition parties on the floor.
“We can’t even overlook the fact that States like Karnataka and Odisha have opted for auctioning of the mining leases following SC directives,” he said.
Tendulkar said that the livelihood of the people dependent on this industry will be severely affected if it is closed. He said that the legislators from the constituencies representing mining belt have expressed their serious apprehensions about the fallout of the order.
An all party delegation had visited Delhi a fortnight ago and met Gadkari but could not get satisfactory response from him. State Cabinet Advisory Committee had then approached Goa Governor Mridula Sinha seeking her intervention on the issue.
