In a direct message to the powerful mining lobby, Goa Chief Minister laxmikant Parsekar has said that if they want the iron ore extraction cap to be raised from 20 million tons to 30 million tons, then the industry will have to pitch in and build infrastructure which insulates the side-effects of iron ore extraction and transport from resident populations.
Parsekar also said that a global slump in the prices of iron ore had resulted in mining in Goa not resuming in full-fledged fashion, but also added that he was optimistic that mining would resume on better levels after the monsoon season.
“Earlier people have tolerated, now no one will. It is wrong to think that people should tolerate and the Government will do everything (requested by the mining lobby), no one should stay under this impression. Those who do are living in fool’s paradise,” Parsekar told The Pioneer in Panaji.
Parsekar said that even the mining industry captains may have come to grips with reality, suggesting that the lobby, which is considered one of the most powerful and influential in Goa, was actually queuing up like common people for meetings at the State Secretariat.
“I don’t know when was the last time mine owners would come to the Secretariat and like common citizens. I have been seeing it happen only for the last one or two years. They came immediately after I called them,” Parsekar said.
Such co-operation from the mining industry was necessary he said, adding that the private entities would now have to partner in building infrastructure for smooth transportation of iron ore and extraction of the same without making people in the vicinity suffer the ill-effects.
“I met mine owners and put emphasis on it. I said mining corridors should be built at their initiative. Mine owners themselves can do it. They can do it cheaper and better. They have all the equipment. If they do this then we can seek to increase the mining extraction cap from 20 to 25 or 30 (tons),” the Chief Minister said.
The mining corridors referred to by the Chief Minister, are roads which are meant to be dedicated to the movement of mining trucks, thus insulating the heavily loaded vehicle from state roads and highways and therefore avoiding road accidents, which are otherwise common place in areas with mining leases.
Asked to comment on the health of the mining industry, Parsekar said that while this year ore extraction and export suffered due to a slump, next year things could be better.
“I am hopeful that mining would be full swing after the monsoons,” Parsekar said.
Mining in Goa was stopped in 2012 following a series of bans by the state and central governments, before the Supreme Court eventually banned it the same year, after a Judicial Commission exposed a Rs35,000 illegal mining scam.
While the ban lifted two years hence, a slump in the global steel market ensure that mining did not start full scale in the state, where the industry accounts for nearly 25 per cent of the GDP.