Auction mines & build beach infra, Daya opposes Vagator project
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 24 April 2014 20:42 IST
Goa’s former finance minister Dayanand Narvekar wants Goa government to build infrastructure by auctioning mining leases and raising revenue rather than favouring mine owners.
Narvekar, who recently floated Goa Democratic Front by quitting the Congress, has strongly opposed privatization of Vagator beach to build an amusement zone, in a letter written to chief minister Manohar Parrikar.
“It is the biggest fraud the government has ever committed by privatising the Vagator beach”, he alleged.
According to Narvekar, the Goa Tourism Development Corporation has leased out Vagator beach area to a Delhi-based company to run a Model Tourism Entertainment Zone for 22 years, at the rate of Rs 70 lakh a year.
Instead, Narvekar feels Goa government should auction Goan mines that could accrue not less than Rs 50,000 crore.
“This is more than enough to develop all the Goan beaches”, Narvekar observed in the letter.
He has also opposed the government move to relax one kilometer buffer zone from sanctuaries while pointing out that 50 per cent of the mines in the buffer zone belong to one mining company (not named).
“We want the government not to dilute the powers of the government specified in the Supreme Court judgement” for the benefit of the mine owners, he has stated in the letter.
He has thus demanded immediate revocation of the agreement to privatise Vagator beach while auctioning the mining leases for getting proper value of the mineral ore.
The mine owners of Goa have neither bothered about Goa’s environment nor put up any industry for employment generation, he added.
