Panaji (Goa): Goa Foundation, the petitioner who challenged the second renewal of 88 mining lease before Supreme Court, has demanded that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar should resign and that Government should freeze the bank accounts of the mining leaseholders.

“It was wrong on the part of the Chief Minister to favour the mafia controlling the mining sector in Goa and whose illegal mining activities led to the closure of mining operations for nearly 4 years,” Goa Foundation director Dr Claude Alvares said in the press statement issued.

“When such decisions are found to be not just wrong, and illegal, but done for the benefit of private interests, the message is clear: Manohar Parrikar should put in his papers,” he demanded.

Alvares said that it is clear that multiple amounts are now recoverable under Section 21(5) of the MMDR Act. “For example, Goa Foundation has estimated that Rs. 65,058 crores (Rs. 4.5 lakhs per Goan) is conservatively recoverable for the period of illegal mining between 22-Nov-2007 and 10-Sep-2012,” he said.

Alvares pointed out that there are numerous other illegalities as well as compensation for environmental damage under the environmental laws. “The Goa government must immediately ask for a freeze on all assets of all erstwhile mining leaseholders,” he demanded.