NT NETWORK
PANAJI
An all-party delegation from the state will meet Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari and Union Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on March 5 to demand that mining operations be allowed to continue in Goa after March 15.
The Supreme Court has ordered that mining be halted in the state from March 16.
The decision to send the delegation was taken at an all-party meeting held at the state secretariat on Monday. The meeting was chaired by Minister for Public Works Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar.
The meeting was attended by Speaker of state legislative assembly Dr Pramod Sawant; Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai; Health Minister Vishwajit Rane; senior Congress MLA Pratapsingh Rane; leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar; BJP MLAs Nilesh Cabral and Rajesh Patnekar, MGP MLA Deepak Pauskar; Independent MLA Prasad Gaonkar; South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar, besides P Krishnamurthy, principal secretary to the Chief Minister, and the director of mines and Prasanna Acharya.
Briefing media persons after the meeting, Dhavalikar said the all-party delegation will call on Gadkari and Tomar on March 5, adding that an appointment has been sought with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has not yet been confirmed.
“All the MLAs who attended Thursday’s meeting will be part of the delegation,” Dhavalikar said, adding that other details on strategies will be disclosed after the delegation discusses the issue with the Centre.
He also stated that the delegation will bring to the notice of the central government that the state would lose revenue of upto Rs 3,500 crore if the mining operations come to standstill following the SC verdict.
Former chief minister and Congress MLA Pratapsingh Rane said that there around 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh people were dependent on mining activities, directly and indirectly, and they would be hit hard in case the mining was halted.
The Opposition leader told reporters that all the members were of the opinion that the mining operations should not stop after March 15 and it has decided that same view should be placed before the Union government.
