In a bid to restart Goa’s mining industry, which is set to stop from March 16 following a Supreme Court order, an all-party delegation will meet Mines Minster Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Minister for Shipping Nitin Gadkari on Monday to seek relief from the order, PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar said late on Thursday.
Addressing the media, after conducting the all party meet at the State Secretariat, Public Works Department Minister Sudin Dhavalikar, who is standing in for the ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, said that the al-party delegation will meet the Union Ministers on Monday and appeal to them to find ways to restart the mining industry after March 15.
“We will be travelling to Delhi on Monday and we have fixed up appointments with Union Minister of Mines Narendra Singh Tomar and Nitin Gadkari. We are also hoping to meet the Prime Minister and have asked our South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar to secure an appointment with the Prime Minister himself,” Dhavalikar told reporters late on Thursday.
The Supreme Court order in January had cancelled all 88 mining leases, which were renewed by the BJP-led coalition Government in Goa in favour of the same mining companies implicated in the Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam.
The order also mandates, that mining leases should be issued anew, after getting all the necessary environment clearances, a process which could take nearly one and a half to two years according to experts.
An MlA, who was part of the all-party confabulation told The Pioneer on condition of anonymity, that one of the options which would be presented during the meeting with Central Ministers was passing of an ordinance, in a bid to bypass the directions of the apex court order. Dhavalikar however did not confirm nor deny whether the ordinance option would be a part of the presentation made to the central ministers.
The PWD Minister however said that the lawmakers from Goa would seek a compensation from the central government for truck drivers, mining workers, etc who would be laid off by the stoppage in mining.