Welcome Jayanthi-Parrikar feud

Email To Friend

• You can send this article as a link to anyone you feel would be keen to read it. Just fill the form below to send it now.
• Your Email: *
• Your Name: *
• Recipient Name: *
• Recipient Email: *
• Subject: *
• Message: I found a very interesting article on GoaNews.com and thought you will definitely like to read it.
• * mandatory fields

they could extract remaining 41.6 lakh MT of iron ore illegally, costing around not less than Rs 1.40 lakh crore more. It should not be possible, but the history says it is not impossible.

People of Goa should wholeheartedly support the competitive game played by Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar and union minister for forest and environment Jayanthi Natarajan. They should simply laugh out the accusations made by both against each other and see through the actions they are taking to prove who is more competent among both – the Centre or the State.

After Justice Shah Commission report is out, it began with Goa government putting on hold operations of ALL the mines, irrespective of which is illegal and which is not. Without citing any reason, the mines department also suspended quite a few officers. Now, CM Parrikar is also saying his government would send notices to all the mine owners regarding recovery of the money they made by selling the iron ore illegally.

In order to prove that it is the Centre and not the State that has major hold over the mines, MoEF minister Natarajan announced at a press conference cancellation of environment clearances of ALL the mines, without even bothering to find out whether any mine actually deserves environment clearance. In addition, she has also dumped the action of Goa government as a ‘white wash’.

Interestingly, both – the centre and the state – would ‘now’ scrutinize all the documents before allowing any mining firm to dig.

The reasons could be many to overscore each other. It could be a feud between the Congress and the BJP, ruled at the center and Goa consecutively. It could be simply to show who is more powerful – the central government or the state government. Or it could be simply an ego clash between an individual called Manohar Parrikar and an individual called Jayanthi Natarajan. Or even it could be a demonstration before the whole country to prove who is more prompt in taking action.

For us, it simply does not matter. What matters is that finally they have started acting against the illegal mining. Don’t ask why they didn’t take these actions even before the Shah Commission report is out. Because the interim report was submitted six months ago. Parrikar, in his Public Accounts Committee report, had come out with similar observations. They were enough to take similar action soon after coming to power. But, please, don’t ask why it was not done then and why it is being done now. Because, we need action and that is coming.

In fact we need more action, as Justice Shah Commission report has suggested, just not suspension of work ‘temporarily’. It ultimately should not result into the mine owners rushing to both the authorities and ‘satisfying’ them with documents to start the illegal extraction once again. Because, as per the Commission report, almost 100 lease holders have encroached upon 2800 hectares of land, but have extracted the ore illegally only in the encroached area of 578 hectares.

It means 80 per cent of the encroached area still remains to be extracted; illegally of course. 10 big mining houses among these 100 have encroached upon 80 per cent of this area. Imagine if all these 10 houses manage to ‘satisfy’ both the centre and the state to get clearances. The illegal ore extracted till date is around 13 lakh metric tonnes, costing around Rs 35,000 crore. Even if these 10 houses are allowed, they could extract remaining 41.6 lakh MT of iron ore illegally, costing around not less than Rs 1.40 lakh crore more. It should not be possible, but the history says it is not impossible.

It is possible to restrict illegal mining in future only if the feud between the centre and the state continues in the same fashion, where each one tries to show how competent their government is, in following the law. So, Mr Parrikar and Ms Natarajan, please show us who is more competent to stop the illegal mining. Let us see who can save Goa better…