NT NETWORK

Panaji

The Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF) on Tuesday came down heavily against the state government for dismissal of the review petition filed in the Supreme Court, stating that it knew “the case was heading for failure from day one.”

“We had already predicted the negative outcome of the petition as soon as it was filed in November 2019 by pointing out that the 20-month delay in filing the petition was too significant to be overlooked by the Supreme Court,” said Puti Gaonkar, president of GMPF. He added that the late filing of the review petition was part of the state government’s ploy to fool the people with empty promises and assurances

on restarting mining in the state.

“Even now, the government is delaying in taking action to restart mining. After three years of the industry coming to a halt in 2018, the government has now announced a mining corporation and auction of leases,” said Gaonkar.

The president of the umbrella body of mining dependants pointed out that if the government was anticipating auction, it should have started the process immediately. “Why wait for three years? Who is the government waiting for? Mining dependants are now suspecting some ulterior motive on the part of the government in delaying action,” alleged Gaonkar.

According to GMPF, the industry shutdown has adversely affected the livelihood of more than 3,00,000 mining dependants and residents, who earned livelihood from mining-related businesses. Mining dependants are indebted with loans, claimed the body.

“We have to wait and see what happens next and how the government plans to commence the auction process,” said Gaonkar.

The GMPF had previously asked for amendment to MMDR Act or the Goa Daman & Diu Mining Concession Abolition Act, 1987 as solutions to resolve the mining impasse.

The mining dependants’ body had indicated that only the legal route or an ordinance would help in restarting mining quickly.