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Centre to check mining industry's eco-excesses in Goa

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

The Centre has decided to check environmental damage caused by the mining industry in Goa. Financial assistance for clean-up operations is likely.

Prime Minister A B Vajpayee hinted at this during the recent Bharatiya Janata Party national executive meeting in Panaji.

Mining has been a crucial segment of the economy of this former Portuguese colony. Private mine-owners have controlled all the local governments till date, no matter what political party they belong to.

In fact, Goa's first two chief ministers -- Dayanand Bandodkar and his daughter Shashikala Kakodkar -- belonging to the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party were the mine-owners who ruled the tourist state till 1979.

Although the Congress captured power later, the mining lobby retained its clout, in spite of the emergence of equally powerful lobbies of contractors, five-star hotels and property developers.

For the mining companies have considerable control over the local media. Local legislators' efforts to debate the issue in the assembly is seldom reported prominently.

Local environmentalists allege that the state officials have always neglected the environmental damage mining had caused in the hinterland, in the form of dust pollution, water pollution, air pollution.

Extraction of mineral ore, which has remained in the hands of private sector till date, has however generated employment besides earning Rs 20 billion annually in foreign exchange.

Over ten million tonnes of iron ore are extracted every year, the highest for any state.

The environmental movement gaining momentum in the '80s, pushing the government to commission Tata Energy Research Institute to prepare a report. Recommendations of the report are now under government's consideration.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Goa unit has now pressed for its speedy implementation. It has also demanded financial assistance of Rs 1 billion for laying new roads, piped water, repair of silt damage, forestation on heaps of mining rejects and even rehabilitation of a few hamlets.

"We are happy that the prime minister is convinced that the mining industry as well as people at large would be affected if damage control measures are not implemented immediately," says Manohar Parrikar, the local BJP spokesperson.

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