GOAMAP protests attempts to expand mining in Sattari

Goa Federation of Mines Affected People (GOAMAP) takes strong objections to the public statement of Mr. Vishwajit Rane that his Assembly election victory in Goa’s Valpoi constituency is green signal for mining in Sattari.

GOAMAP urges Mr. Rane to to behave as an elected representative and not as an agent of mining industry.

Mr. Rane’s vetting of mining in Sattari is baffling particularly because Sattari is showcase of mining disasters in Pissurlem and Honda villages. The Ecological and Public Health concerns of these villages has grown to deeply critical levels. Its agriculture is totally ruined. People in agriculture has created loss of jobs and employment and paddy fields has been left uncultivable. People there has become ecological refugees.

Mining is huge usury of wealth of Goa. Last year alone mining industry earned Rs.25 lakh crores of rupees and Goa government was paid less than Rs. 30 crores! Mr. Rane is involved in supporting this robbery of Goa actively.

The heath of the villagers of Pissurlem and Honda and even of nearby Kerim villagers who work in Pissurlem mines has gone for a toss with large scale Tuberculosis and Bronchitis due to high level of dust pollutuion. Mr. Rane as Goa’s Health Minister should have known this very well before misguiding people.

GOAMAP wish to remind Mr. Vishwajit Rane that Sattari is one of the major Western Ghats Talukas of Goa which is ecologically sensitive and mining is an enemy of this bio-diversity rich region of Goa.

GOAMAP calls upon the People of Goa to be watchful of the intentions of Mr. Vishwajit Rane and defeat his intentions of expanding mining in Sattari and other parts of Goa.

Slide show on Sonshi Government School affected by mining

Sonshi primary school in Sattari has neither a playground nor running water. Instead of these luxuaries, the children can play in mining dust.

The students play and learn just a few meters from 5 mines. Watch this slide presentation prepared by Advocate Krishnendu Mukherjee on Village Tinto website.

These school students have mining dust for company

HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, SEPT 23

The 12 students of Sonshi Government Primary School in Sattari have nothing, but mining dust for company during their school hours. There is no playground of or any open space in front of the school. No sooner the students step out of their classrooms they are catapulted into the thick of mining activities.

Convenor GOAMAP Senastian Rodrigues in a presentation held in the city on Wednesday highlighted how five mining companies surrounding the school have violated environmental and all possible laws there are.

Rodrigues said the presentation was prepared by one Advocate Krishnendu Mukherjee from Kolkata who has been in Goa for some time. He had done a study on the school tow months back during the monsoons, he mentioned.

The study shows mining overburden has been dumped upto 10 metres from the steps of the school. There has been no running water in the school ever since Sesa Goa beneficiation plant started operating next to the school somewhere in 2003.

The mining companies surrounding the school are involved in heavy encroachment as the original area, 650 square metres, in which the institution was housed has depleted over the years.

Rodrigues said the Department of Education failed to give any proper response to RTI request concerning educational standards at the school and the Goa State Pollution Control Board didn’t carry any tests on air, water or noise pollution surrounding the institution.

During the rainy season one can find polluted rain water near the school because of the mining in its surrounding.

Sonshi Government Primary School was set up in 1964. It has a sole teacher for the last eight years who has been trying hard to get transfer but the same has been refused.

When questioned if the school could be amalgamated with another government institution, Ramesh Gauns said the next school was at the distance of 9-10 kilometers. There are many reasons why this school can’t be amalgamated with another school, he added.

Gauns said there are several such schools that are affected due to mining.

Rodrigues said their aim was to add one more dimension to their campaign by exposing how mining was damaging school infrastructure. “We will do a study and come out with details of schools affected by mining,” he stated.

Herald, September 24, 2009, Panaji

Mining causes concern to Sattari schools

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Panjim: It is a common knowledge that mining activities being undertaken in the hinterlands of the state affect the flora and fauna but a study by a human rights activist Adv Krishnendu Mukherjee has now brought a startling reality to the fore, schools in the Sattari taluka are also badly affected by the mines resulting in a decrease in a the attendance of the students studying there.

Adv Mukherjee conducted a research of the Sonshi school, Sattari in the last twon months that was presented by anti-mining activist Seby Rodrigues at institute Piedade recently. In the research, it was stated that this school is surrounded by five mines, including Sesa Goa.

This Marathi-medium government primary school has one teacher for just 12 students whose attendance is on decline due to the mining activity, says the study that also points out to further hardships being faced by the school during the monsoons.

During the monsoons, the polluted rainwater from the mines flows near the school. So also the mining rejects are being dumped within 10 metres from the school steps. Besides, the school lacks running water facility due to the presence of a beneficiation plant of Sesa Goa that is operational from 2003 in this area, states Mukherjee, who further claims that the Goa Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has not done any test on the air and water around the school.

He also alleges that “this is a violation of the student’s right to education, besides other environmental violations concerning air, water and noise pollution as well as encroachment of the government land by Sesa Goa.”

A teacher-cum-activist Ramesh Gawas also pointed out that “this school was started in the year1964 much before the mining activities commenced there. At that time, the area was 600 sq metres but now it is nearly 250 sq metres.” Gawas added “there is no play ground for the students.” He further lamented that this is the state of all the schools functioning in the mining areas and that the low admission rate in these schools could be attributed to the ongoing mining activities and their hazards.

Gomantak Times, September 24, 2009, Panaji

Mining Affects edu in rural areas: Study

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Panaji: For the 12 students of the government primary school at Sonshi in Sattari taluka, the first wondrous years of learning are a test of endurance in a school located amid the noise of mining machinery, the dust of mines and the sight of red earth all around.

“The view from this school is not of green fields and birds. The children here grow up seeing only red mining dust,” said anti-mining activist Seby Rodrigues. Through a slide presentation to the media, Rodrigues portrayed how mining has adversely affected the primary school in Sonshi. However, he added that the Sonshi is only one example of how mining has affected the primary education of young children in many parts of Goa. The study was conducted by Krishnendu Mukherjee, a lawyer and environmentalist.

The school had about 600 square metres of land around it when it started in 1964. Subsequently, four mines came up around the school with a fifth mining company setting up its beneficiation plant in front of the school. “Now the school has only about 250 square metres left. Clearly there is an encroachment by the mining companies. There is mining overburden dumped up to 10 meters from the steps of the school,” said Rodrigues.

The study shows how during the monsoons, polluted rainwater runs close to the school. At other times of the year, the children have to bear the elevated noise and dust levels within the school caused by heavy machinery and trucks. The study expresses fears that the mining slurry may contain arsenic and cause contamination due to polluted waters. According to the study, the Goa state pollution control board has not conducted any tests on air, water or noise pollution surrounding the school.

Mukherjee said that one aim of the study is to establish whether there are violations by the mining companies and also by the education department. ‘Mining should improve the local economy. But here we have a case where children are adversely affected by it. Our study is ongoing and we are waiting for evidence of violations. On the face of it, this seems to be the case. We will give our findings to the government and the mining companies,” Mukherjee said.

His research began in April 2008, but information has been hard to obtain. The education department “failed to give any proper responses” under RTI. Also, the lone teacher at the school is reluctant to say anything for fear of losing his job. And may be his life. After the teacher spoke to the researcher, a guard was posted outside the school for few days. The teacher has requested for a transfer several times. All his requests have been denied.

Has the number of students at Sonshi school decreased? Mukherjee said he is awaiting this information which he has applied for under RTI from the education department. But apparently, the children of Sonshi do not have much of a choice. The next government primary school is in Sanquelim, 10 kilometers away.

Times of India, September 24, 2009, Panaji

Glimpses from Pissurlem

On December 27, 2008 few people concerned about tragedy unfolded by mining industry in Goa went to Pissurlem, Sattari to get first hand accound of the situation. Pissurlem has been under mining assault for the past half a century. This is a photo essay based on pictures by Shaweta Anand and commentary by Sebastian Rodrigues.

This picture symbolizes reality of nature and horticulture in the form of two coconut trees: One dead and second one alive. This is largely a reality of the state of Goa in the context of mining. It is an incessant struggle between life and death....



This coconut trees has no energy left to bear fruits. Mining has done the trick.

Soil has lost fertility. These plants symbolises this painful reality.

Agriculture fields re full of mining. No crop is cultivated here. One upon a time Pissurlem was highest ranking village in Sattari taluka in terms of Paddy cultivation.

But today its paddy fields are full of mining silt.

This reality has gripped entire Pissurlem village.

Couple of buffaloes and few egrets enjoy last remains of moisture in these once evergreen paddy fields.

House in Pissulem village.

Cow dung cakes in Pissurlem. Perhaps these are last of remain after remaining green portions being earmarked for expansion of mining industry.

Stagnant water in Pissurlem lake.

Stagnation visible. Once this lake used to cater to the entire paddy cultivation of Pissurlem village. Today stagnation is a reality.

The neglectful reality of lake continues...

Another picture of lake. Planet Earth may lost it forever due to mining.

Mining in close proximity of Paddy fields in Pissurlem.

Mining activity: razed hillocks.

Pissurlem women in conversation.

Mining trucks on Pissurlem village roads.

If you have a mining truck then you have a comfort of a luxury car in Pissurlem. Unfortunately, neither car nor truck can satisfy human thirst and hunger.

Cars are very attractive co-option mechanisms in Pissurlem village.

Ore from Pissurlem for exports: truck overflows and uncovered.

Mining trucks are so much an integral part of Pissurlem village. Once upon a time it was its paddy fields that were so much its integral part. The change is so visible and direct.

Iron Ore stocked on banks of Mandovi in Sattari

Another case of violations of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) as Huge quantity of Iron Ore is stored and covered under blue plastic material on the banks of Mandovi at Vagurme village in Sattari Taluka.

Operation of Mines at Dhave opposed

Gomantak Times July 11 2009 Panjim

Villagers threaten to storm public hearing fixed for today

Villagers of Nagargao have opposed operation of an iron ore mine in survey nos 18, 20, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 19 at Dhave-Sattari and are bent on disrupting the conduct of a “Public Hearing” schedule here for today.

“We have decided to intensify the agitation against the mine,” the Mining Virodhi Samiti member Ashok Joshi, said.

On an earlier occasion too, the same mine owner had attempted to operate it, but was foiled. It is learnt that the mine owner is still continuing efforts to start operating the mine.

The samiti members have decided not to allow the public hearing which has been convened today…. at the Shantadurga temple, Dhave.

Most part of Sattari taluka has been virtually taken over by the mine owners, except perhaps, Nagargao and nearby areas.

If the mine owners take control over other areas in Nagargao, the natural wealth of Sattari would be destroyed, feel the anti-mining activists.

Hence, 12 years ago the villagers had agitated over the attempt to start the same mine and driven away the mine owner along with his machinery.

It is leant that the site where the mine is planned to be operated in Brahmakarmali village in survey nos 21 and 64 comes within the Mhadei sanctuary’s jurisdiction and there exists a reserved forest area just a kilometre ahead. Villagers are surprised over the government’s willingness to grant permission in such an area.

“If the mine starts operating in Dhave, besides causing destruction to orchards, Valpoi city from where the ore will have to be transported, will also be affected and the Valpoi Municipal Council will strongly oppose it,” Joshi said.

Joshi further said, a meeting will be held within two days to oppose the mine.