BJP leaders push for auction route to resume mining

NT NETWORK

 

PANAJI

As the much-hoped amendment to the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 is not in sight, BJP  leaders in the state have started pushing for auction route for resuming mining operations in Goa.

Despite the assurances by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah, there has been no solution to the vexed mining tangle.

Modi and Shah had held out hopes of a solution.

Union Minister for AYUSH (independent charge) Shripad Naik, who had asserted that a solution to the mining issue would come out by February 15, 2019, on Saturday maintained that the state government, and not the Centre, must initiate the process for the auction route.

‘It is the responsibility of the state government, and not of the central government, to initiate the process for the auction route,” he explained.

When reminded of his statement on the solution to the mining issue, North Goa MP said that he had made the statement factoring in the assurances given by Modi and Shah.

However, he maintained that efforts have been on to find a solution to the problem.

It is pertinent to note here that a few days back state legislative assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant had said that auctioning of mining leases would definitely take place.

The mining industry in Goa came to a standstill in March last year after the Supreme Court in its order quashed 88 leases and banned extraction of iron ore.

Although local BJP leaders are doing their best to push up the sagging morale of the mining dependants,

it has been stated that the BJP could face public ire during the Lok Sabha elections.

Sources in the government said the Centre has been reluctant to amend the MMDR Act just to resolve Goa’s mining tangle, as the   amendment sought would go against the national policy of auctioning natural resources.

The sources also spoke about the practical problem the auction route could face: most of the lands, which were leased out to mining firms for extracting iron ore, belong to private landowners.