Goa's ruin continues: three more mining Public Hearings in Colamb

As if the havoc created in Colamb village is not enough Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India has called for three more minng public Hearings in the Colamb village in Goa's Sanguem Taluka in the heart of Western Ghats Forests. They will be held on February 06 in Rivona Panchayat Hall, Rivona, Sanguem, Goa at 10.00 am.

Mining leases for which public hearings are going to be held includes:

1. Galimol au Cazori Gogo Iron Ore Manganese Ore Mine of Shri Vasantrao G Mehta for the total area of 68.75 hactares with T.C. No. 41/53, Colomba, Sanguem. Survey numbers of the land includes 4 (part), 5, 6, 10, 11, 12 (part) and 13.

2. Vathasur Manganese Ore Mine of Shri Vasantrao G Mehta for a total area of 21.70 hectares with T.C. No. 46/51, Colomba, Sanguem. Survey number of land includes 4 (part), 12 (part), 13 (part), 14, 15, 17, 22 and 24.

3. Borgali Ou Iron Ore Mine of M/s S. Marzoor & Cadar Pvt. Ltd for a total area of 87.8530 hectares with T.C. No. 18/56. Survey number of land includes 37, 38, 63, 65, 150, 154, 156, 165, 166, 167 and 169.

All the three mining leases is designated Forest land. The total land of these three leases sought to be given for mining totals to 178.303 hactares. Please go there and submit your letter of objection.

Colamb has total land of 1929 hactares of land of which 1510 hectares are under mining leases. Village will have only 419 hactares left for itself. Large scale dmage to agriculture and water bodies is already taking place. Already tow mines are in operation. Both of them are operated by different members of Timblo family. One by Radha Timblo and and second by Avadooth Timblo. State government has been providing police security to these mining companies in the face of stiff opposition from the Colamb villagers. It is large the might of police and private security that is responsible for ongoing slow death of Colamb village.

By the way Sanguem taluka has 20,000 hactares of land under mining leases granted during earstwhile Portuguese regime. And all of these mining leases are activated then Not only Western ghats forest will get badly ruined but also several villages like Sulcorna, Curpem etc will get completely wiped off, Water bodies dried up forever.

State authorities including Goa Government headed by its Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Ministry of Environemnt and Forest are responsible for this Ecocide of the State of Goa. Opposition Parties in the Assebly are largely silent on the issue. Opposition leader Manohar Parrikar behaved irresponsibly and went ahead to label those opposing mining invasion of Goan villages as "Naxalites". Large number of Goa's elected representatives have thier business ties to mining industry. That's why every one in the Goa Assembly is silent. Even the known vocal legislator in the Goa Assembly - Victoria Fernandes is mum on the whole issue. Yesterday she was on the streets protesting on the streets in a rally to oppose Garbage disposal plant in Baiguinim in Old Goa. It is time to question her as to why she is quite on mining for damage dome by mining is severe and intense to Goa and for its survival.

Another Legislator Joaquim Alemao is a contractor through his mining firm Raissa company and is going to operate Marzook Cadar lease T.C. no 18/56 that is going for public hearing on February 06, 2009 in Rivona. Joaquim Alemao is Goa's Urban Development Minister who is all out to destroy Goa sylval rural areas through his greed for open cast mining. His elder brother Minister Churchill Alemao who has time and claim for his unstinted love for Goa, its culture and language is overtaken by his love for his Minister brother Joaquim Alemao. And hence is keeping studied strategic silence. In fact now people from Navelim and Cuncolim must rise up and tell Alemao brothers to speak up against mining and cut off their bussiness links with mining industry.

And we have great tradition - of miners in the Goa Assembly - is being continued through legislator Anil Salgaonkar. This tradition began with Dayanand Bandodkar as Goa's first Chief Minister way back in early 1960s, and then his Chief Minister daughter Shashikala Kakodkar continued the same in !970s. Prapsingh Rane became the darling of the mining companies through out his tunure as Chief Minister in 1980s. The evidence to this effect can be collected from his Constituency of Poriem in Sattari. You only have to visit Pissurlem to know for yourself first hand.

Large number of Goa's legislators share stakes in Goa's mining industry that is fast spreading its cancerous tenticles from north to South of Goa spliting it vertically. It is disrupting large section of Goa's 9 rivers and 42 tributories. Goa's Watershed zones are dangerously threatened due to minig industry. Yet none of our legislators - from Opposition as well as from ruling party can see it. They are acting dumb, deaf and blind. Goa's future and present is severly threatened by mining, yet these 40 MLAs has got their sensitivities dead. This is indeed very sad time in the history of Goa. All the ruling political parties in the Assembly - Congress (i), BJP, MGP, UGDP, SGF please speak up. Also independents - Vishwajeet Rane and Victoria Fernandes please speak up. This is very desperate pleas to all of you'll. If you don't want to speak for your sake, please speak up at least for the sake of future of our State of Goa. You'll know, in Goa we get all our water - fresh water to drink, to cultivate, to industry, to tourism - all from these majestic mountains called Western Ghats. We will be left with severe water shortage if you'll allow mining industry to run amok of this beautiful paradis on earth.

You'll know very well Mhadei river is already half damn and very soon it would be getting diverted to Malaprabha basin by Karnataka Government. And our tourism industry already facing acute shortage of water in future. Goa Governemt's economic survey of 2006-07 makes it very clear. It has made it clear that PWD pipelines are incapable to meet the demands of tourism industry. It has recommended to begin getting water from Tillari water dam in Maharastra at a very rapid and fast pace. Our drinking needs - for taps- are carrying water from mainly three water dams. Selaulim, Opa and Assanora water works. (Anjuna Water dam in Sattari caters to irrigation needs of sections of Sattari taluka.) All these water dams are threatened with mining. Sanguem's Selaulim Water dam that supplies water to Salcete and Marmagao talukas, including Margao and Vasco cities is permanently threatened by mining activities. Even today there is mining activity going on there. Goa and inspect it for your self. Opa Water works in Ponda Taluka is severely threatened by several operating operating mining leases in the vicinity of Khandepar River basin. Opa Supplies water largely to the the Ponda, and Tiswadi taluka that includes Panjim city. Assanora river water basin is threatened by large scale mining expansion in Advalpal mountains. and Maharastra government is having change of mining over supplying water to Goa though Tillari Irrigation project even though pipeline is laid. So the question is can we afford to make water depenendent? Shouldn't we all work hard to ensure that Goa's water sources - its mountains - are kept safe and away from mining corporates? Should we let there few families from Goa and multinational -Vedanta owned Sesa Goa bleed this State of Goa.

If you want to get the tast of all this then you only go to Bicholim taluka's Sirgao village and check our for your yourself all the 77 dry village wells due to mining. They have no water to drink, no water to wash and bath, no water for cattles, fields are no longer cultivable due to high deposit of silt. Same is the story of Pissurlem in Sattari and mayem in Bicholim.


Please speak up MLA, speak up for the sake of Goa, and its pending thirst. Please speak up to demand closure of open cast mining in Goa. That is the only way we can safely pass on this paradise called called in the hands of future generation from whom we have borrowed it and we are merely custodians. We canno afford afford to keep silent on this count.

Request also to other political parties in the State of Goa that do not have their MLAs elected to the assembly. Please speak up! Goa Su-Raj Party, Communist party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M), Shiv Sena Please mobilize yourselves and put the agenda of mining on top priority. We have to deal with this rising above party politics. We need to build consensus - political consensus on undesiribility of continuing mining trade any further in Goa. Your silence will help no one. Please speak up and speak up quickly. We have already caused immense harm to Goa's ecology - its water sources, its majestic mountains of tropical evergreen forests, its flora and foauna. We are yet to calculate the extend of unemployment and food insucurity created by destruction of agriculture for the past 60 years.

We also have to initiate dialoge with the labour unions active in mining sector in Goa. Request to labour Unions too to see the mining picture in wholistic situation of Goa and its future. Please resist from seeing only from your job perspective. Should the entire State of Goa suffer because of the industry that you are part of? You'll are very justified in rising the flag of Job to the sky when it comes to mining? But did you'll ever pondered enough as to how cancerous this industry has become for the very survival of Goa? Please do so at the earliest. The cross dialogue with different sections of our society must begin. Water threats are real due to mining and all of us need to wear our thinking hats to evolve direction for the future of our state. Unions in Goa are dangerously cought up in the economism and sadly did not with any degree of consistency taken on to look at influencing political direction of the State of Goa. Unions has provided stability to industry to Goa with minimum labour unrest. And in mining industry there is hardly more than a couple of instances of labour unrest in public memory. And, if there was it is hardly documented and made available for public information. Labour has to become the agent of transformation for the State of Goa. With powerful labour unions backing any transformative initiatives success is plausible. But are labour Union Leaders interested in attempting to share responsiblity of Governance of State of Goa? The prevailing situation does not point anywhere to this possiblity. There is a need for tremendous change of approach - from economism to the political responsibilty amongst the labour unions of Goa. Silence of labour Unions on mining question in Goa is suicidal.

Margao People has to wake up to this reality very fast. Out of total 810 mining leases Margao people are owning 155 mining leases. Timblo family in their name has 57 mining leases. Besides they are operating number of other leases like Hiralal Khodidas mining lease in Colamb and Litho Ferro in Advalpal. Similarly is the case with Dempos in Bicholim whose mines has caused collossal all round ecological damage. Dempos, Timblos, Chowgules, Bandekars, Sesa Goa, Salgaonkar, Damodar Mangaljis - all of them are in a race to finish the state of Goa forever. Student in Metro.

And finally Goa's total area under mining leases is over 68,000 hectares. Still Goa's Ministry of Mines and geology is yet to have the website of its own. Secrecy is the rule of this department. By the way it is good to know again to refresh our memory - Chief Minister Digambar Kamat is also the Mines Minister. Mr. Chief Minister, Please act, Act Decisively. You have been presented to go down in the pages of history as the man who did not fear for his chair but was decisive at the most critical moment of Goa.

It is testing time for all of us in Goa. And we have now to say and say it repeadly and loudly - enough is enough!

Sebastian Rodrigues