The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday gheroad the officials of Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) over delay in initiating action against the mining firms responsible for air pollution in Sonshi village. The party demanded immediate suspension of consent to operate granted to all seven leases operational in the vicinity of the village.
The party is contemplating filing contempt petition in the Supreme Court, which is hearing the illegal mining case of Goa, informing gross violations of pollution norms and transportation by the mining firms and failure of the government to act upon.
Since the member Secretary Levinson Martins is on leave, the acting MS Shivanand Salelkar along with senior geologist Sanjiv Joglekar had meeting with the delegation. They informed that the Board has proposed action against the mining firms, but the file is pending with Chairman, the additional charge currently held by Chief Secretary.
Explaining about the monitoring of the pollution, Joglekar said that though the monitoring at the air ambient station across all the State is done twice a week, we don’t have such station at Sonshi, as it is currently at Honda, which is 1.5 kms distance. “Following HC order, we are now in process of installing the same. We have identified the places and now waiting for NOC from the locals,” he stated.
The party leaders including Valmiki Naik, Ravindra Velip questioned Board’s delay in initiating action against the mining leases, which are undertaking iron ore transportation from the residential area, in violation of guidelines set by Supreme Court and the Union Ministry for Environment and Forest (MoEF).
There are total seven leases operational belonging to Vedanta Ltd and Fomento.
Velip pointed out that as per the government record, there are 800-900 trucks operational at these mining sites, who carry out on an average 4000 trips daily. “However, the villagers claim that the trips are not less than 8000 per day, transporting almost one lakh tons of ore daily,” he said.
He brought to the notice of the Board members that as per the MoEF guidelines, the ore transportation should not be allowed from the roads passing through villages or residential areas.
Later Naik demanded that the operation of all these mining leases be suspended till pollution measures are put in place. “If authorities fail to do, we intend to move to Supreme Court with contempt petition,” he said.
Team TNV
