Panaji (Goa) Even as thousands of people fearing to lose their livelihood due to a possible crisis on iron ore mining industry protested in Panaji, the State legislative assembly discussed the topic in one voice with the government assuring a new mining policy to address such issues.
Congress Leader Pratapsinh Rane moved calling attention motion on the floor of the House today raising the concerns about the livelihood of the people dependent on this industry. The Budget session of the state legislative assembly has begun this week.
Rane who met the agitators at Azad Maidan in Panaji this morning had moved the motion urging the government to file a review petition in the Supreme Court on the mining issue.
The SC in its recent verdict had quashed 88 mining leases, suggesting that they can be reallocated through the process of auctioning. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar before the budget session had initiated a process of discussion with the stakeholders on the issue.
Moving calling attention motion, Rane said that the State government should not allow the industry to be closed down and take every possible measure to ensure that the livelihood of the people dependent on this industry is saved.
He said that several other allied industries are dependent on the mining business. “After every truck, there are at least 6-7 families which are dependent on it,” said Rane.
BJP legislator Nilesh Cabral, who represents the iron ore-rich constituency of Curchorem, said that the auction is not the way to find a solution for this problem. “There are other ways within the legal parameters which can be worked out,” he said.
Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo said that there are at least two lakh families dependent on this business in Goa and hence it should be protected at any cost. Terming mining as the backbone of Goa’s economy, Lobo wished that chief minister Manohar Parrikar who is currently undergoing treatment in Mumbai should recover soon and hold a high powered meeting on the issue.
Responding on the floor of the House, State Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar who is a leader of the House in absence of Parrikar, said that the state government will consider all the available options before it in the best interest of the state so that the mining industry sustains.
He said that Parrikar has already begun consultation with the stakeholders to come out with a solution to the ongoing crisis. “Government will formulate new mining policy which will take care of all such issues,” Dhavalikar said.
Meanwhile, around 5,000 people including truck owners, mining workers and their family members protested at Azad Maidan.
“We are against the auctioning of mining leases. Stoppage of mining industry will result in losing the livelihood and if they are auctioned they might be run by other mine owners resulting in uncertainity of employment to existing workers,” said Satyawan Gaonkar, Secretary, South Goa Progressive Truck Owners’ Association.
Gaonkar said that as per the Goa, Daman and Diu Mining Concession (Abolition and Declaration of mining leases) Act, 1987, the mining concessions given to the workers had converted into the leases. “Under this act, the leases are given for exploration for fifty years, which means their life will end in the year 2037,” he said.
He said that the State government will have to pass ordinance in the state legislative assembly to implement this act, which will make SC judgment ineffective.
