Paddy yield suffer due to mining in Colamb

Couple of days ago I was in Colamb, Sanguem and over there I met Dument D'souza. She has just finished harvest of this season. After questioning she disclosed that paddy yield this year has drastically suffered due to nearby Hiralal Khodidas mine operated by Fomentos. She disclosed that she normally used to reap 20 bags of paddy. This season she has got only 7 bags. That means 13 bags loss.

Mining, particularly in its mechanized version has caused enormous harm by drying up of water sources. Siltation of paddy fields has also reduced the soil fertility. This is a common sense that rulers of Goa as well as mining companies pretend not to understand. By this stand they have positioned themselves as enemies of Goa, its water sources as wells its people in engaged in paddy cultivation like Dument D'souza. They are like that nude King on horse back who thought that he was wearing best dress in the world till young boy told him the naked truth on his face!

Mining industry as well as the rulers of Goa behave as if they are permanently high flying illusion. They fail to understand that by continuing mining just because few companies make huge profits, they are actually doing something nasty - cutting their own legs of sustainability. If they refuse to get hints and get cracking further on mining industry in Goa then it is but certain that the rulers in Goa will have to bite mining dust in not too distant future.

Time for Goa's rulers is running out. It is running out very fast. It is ozzing out of every diesel pump that is set up on the mines in Goa. In fact, to be honest rulers of Goa are very pathetic lot. They are irrational. They have made money at the cost of Mother Earth for the past 60 years and still scheme how to do this further. For deep within they are hallow. They think that their police violence, goon violence, smart diplomacy to divert attention away from mining is going to keep them permanently in Power as ruling elements. Their beliefs are like a balloon bloated with hot air that will go burst with touch of a thorny tiny being. Poor pathetic guys leave in a make believe world and tearing apart beautiful world in the midst of western ghats with chirping birds, wandering panthers, roaring tigers, dancing butterflies, handsome cobras, croaking frogs, variety of fishes and majestic mountains and its people. Someone who can do this level of violence to living being has to be mentally ill. Cause of this illness has to be self-inflicted violence. Someone whose sense of compassion has hit rock bottom and has become addict of violence. All the mining companies and their cronies come into this category.

They have enslaved themselves through machinery and holding people and ecology captive. We need a medicine them them free from machines.

Sebastian Rodrigues