Sreya Kanugula
Around hundreds of people depending on the mining industry in Goa took a march there to protest against the Centre and State governments’ failure to continue extraction activities of iron ore after it being shut down since the past three years.
On February 2018, Supreme Court of India had quashed around 88 mining lease renewals in Goa, which had resulted in the industry’s closure and ended a major State revenue earner.
Thundreds of dependents of this industry marched from the bus stand of Panaji all the way to the Azad Maidan to mark their protest. The march had been organised by an umbrella body representing the dependents under the name of Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF).
The umbrella body’s president, Mr. Puti Gaonkar had stated that the peaceful march was to send a message to both the Centre and the State governments that the patience of the mining dependents was running thin.
Since the past three years, those who had depended on mining activities in order to earn a livelihood were observing the 7th of February as a “black day”, Mr. Gaonkar added.
He further stated that all the possible options were taken in order to find a way to continue the activities of the mining industry by the GMPF. But nothing seemed to be working appropriately.
“We approached everyone, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, but there is no solution as of now,” he informed.
Mr. Gaonkar also stated that Goa was facing a tough time due to its revenue plummeting because of the termination of the mining industry.
He claimed that around 3 lakh dependents were waiting on the mining industry and they wanted immediate resumption of the operations of the iron ore extraction in their State.