Govt concealed 2 central letters on mining: Cong

PANAJI: The Congress party Sunday claimed that the state government had received two letters from the Centre on mining issue but the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government concealed the letters and ‘fooled’ the people of Goa by stating that mining would resume soon.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress House in Panaji, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar said that the party has information that the state government has received two letters, one from Ministry of Mines and another from the Prime Minister’s Office. The letters were suppressed and ground was created to fool the people, he said.

Urging the government to disclose the contents of the letters, he claimed that as per his information the letters stated that the central government was not ready to amend Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act nor was it in a position to bring an ordinance. Hence, the Centre had advised the state government to file a review petition, he said.

Chodankar recalled that few months back a letter from Ministry of Law was leaked which suggested that the state government would have to file a review petition.

He alleged that BJP is ‘enacting’ a drama with its leaders speaking in different tones on mining issue and added that the party now stands exposed. The BJP has ‘fooled’ the people of the state, especially the mining dependants, he alleged and said that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar should apologise to the people and resign by taking responsibility.

Mining activity in the state has come to a halt since March last year after the Supreme Court imposed a ban on the extraction and transportation of iron ore from 88 mining leases and also directed the state government to re-issue mining leases.