Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday called the “legislative cure” his government has sought to resume mining in the state the “fastest and amicable remedy” to the issue.

“The state government requests all the members of the House to stand with it in its endeavour for an early resumption of mining activities in the state in the interest of people and economy,” Parrikar, who is also the state’s mining minister, said in a written reply tabled in the Goa assembly.

He did not specify the nature of the solution but assured they were “leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the final outcome or solution should withstand the test of judicial review”.

The Supreme Court had in February last year cancelled 88 mining leases the state government had renewed. The Supreme Court called the renewals illegal as they violated its earlier directions on granting fresh leases instead of renewing the pre-existing ones.

The Goa government is seeking an amendment to retrospectively extend the validity of Goa’s mining leases instead of granting fresh ones as per the Supreme Court directions, according to people aware of the developments.

The state government is reluctant to grant fresh leases as the process mandates an auction, which the state government says will further delay the restart of mining.

The Mines and Minerals Development (Amendment) Act, 2015, which the Centre brought in initially as an ordinance, made an auction mandatory for the grant of fresh leases.

Parrikar said it gave existing leaseholders a window period of five years “so that there was no immediate displacement of a large number of people employed directly or indirectly because of the mining activities.”

In a separate reply, Parrikar said there “is ongoing communication between the state and Central governments to start mining early in public interest.”

Opposition leader Chandrakant Kavlekar accused the government of “doing nothing” to restart mining over the last year since the court’s order left “the 75,000 odd families dependent on the industry in the lurch”.

“Your leaders and MPs cannot even secure an audience with the Prime Minister to explain the plight of those affected by the closure of mining,” Kavlekar said.

Modi had, in an address to BJP workers this month, said his government was committed to a “legal solution” to the issue. Modi referred to the court order and said they will keep trying to see how a way can be found out.

First Published: Feb 01, 2019 07:16 IST