Head of Goa Foundation Claude Alvares and other green activists are working over time to ensure that land recovered from illegal mining reverts back to the state of Goa.
A direct fallout of the Justice M.B. Shah Commission report (which had put the illegal mining turnover in Goa at `35,000 crores) was that the state government was forced to suspend mining operations in the state. Goa’s chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s office also issued a notification to shut all mines till all the mining companies provided details for verification by the government.
But the Green Brigade, led by Dr Alvares, are now determined to take the battle one step further.
“The Shah Commission has clearly mandated that all mining land has to be recovered. The leases have to be terminated and the land returned to the state. Illegal mining presently covers over 8 to 10 per cent of the land area of Goa and that will prove to be a substantive gain for the state,” Dr Alvares added. He also challenged the claims of the mining lobby that low quality ore was being exported from Goa. “We do not accept these claims. It was the state government’s job to have investigated this claim but they failed to do so,” he said.
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Suspended Mines official kills self
Panaji, Sept. 21: A senior officer with the Goa mines department, who was recently suspended following the Shah Commission report, on Friday committed suicide, the police said.
Assistant geologist Dattatraya Bhave, who was suspended along with five other officials on September 7, hung himself at this residence in Ponda town. — PTI