Panaji (Goa) The Bombay High Court at Goa today admitted the public interest litigation filed by Goa Foundation on pollution at Sonshi village due to iron ore mining activities. The hearing is scheduled on Tuesday next week.
Immediately concerned about the lack of water in the village, the Court asked the government to come out with proposals for distribution of potable water to the villagers by next hearing.
It may be recalled that large number of trucks had generated huge volumes of air and water pollution when they carried ore through the single Sonshi village for several mining companies.
The Foundation has filed the PIL on behalf of all Sonshi families, which are 99 percent from the tribal community. The petition seeks Rs.50 lakhs per family as compensation for damage to health, besides punitive damages for crossing statutory air pollution limits, and exemplary damages so that such atrocities are not repeated. The claim is made against the 9 mining companies and the Goa Pollution Control Board which failed to act.
The PIL argues that the village families do not have to prove medical damage, since the statute itself has been notified on the ground that exceeding it will cause damage to health. In most cases, impact of air pollution will only emerge after a couple of years. Such air pollution severely compromises the health of children especially.
According to the petition, 1200 trucks made a total of 16,000 trips through the village road.
Sonshi village is surrounded by 13 mining leases belonging to 9 mining lease-holders. Mining has destroyed bulk of agriculture in the village, including cashew and coconut plantations, and water sources. As a result, some of the villagers were forced to buy trucks and offer their services to the mining companies.
The PIL has asked for implementation of the District Mineral Foundation scheme laid down under the Mines and Minerals Act. It states that during the last mining season (during which the pollution breached norms), the lessees extracted 73.5 lakh tonnes of ore valued at Rs.782.5 crores.
