Ore transport stopped amidst talks; will CM conduct inventory at Caurem?
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 11 April 2016 22:33 IST
Caurem villagers gathered at Goa Assembly
The talks were inconclusive, but Goa government has agreed to suspend the ore transport from Caurem until all the issues of the tribal villagers are resolved.
After first round of discussions, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar will resume talks once again tomorrow evening.
At the initiative of Prakash Velip, BJP vice president and UTAA leader of tribals, the young protesting tribal youth sat across the table with the government authorities to find a solution to their ongoing agitation against illegal mining.
Besides CM and his mines department officials, the talks were also attended by Sanguem MLA and Caurem villager Subhash Phaldesai, UTAA leaders Prakash Velip and Govind Gaude as well as seven villagers led by panch Ravindra Velip.
Ravindra, who was blind-folded and assaulted in a judicial lock-up, sounded hopeful about the talks due to positive response from CM Parsekar.
“CM agreed with us in principle that the mines department must conduct inventory of the e-auctioned ore, before the transport begins”, he told goanews.com.
The villagers have been pointing out that the ore is actually more than double of what is being e-auctioned.
In addition, Ravindra today told the media that Fomento has shown 62 grade ore as 52 grade while the mines department has relied upon the quantity claimed by the lease holder rather than physically verifying it.
The villagers also told the CM that mining lease holders are transporting the ore without putting it on weighing machine.
MLA Phaldesai, while claiming that these issues were never told to him by the villagers, fully supported their demand of inventory of the ore before transporting it.
Fomento as well as Magnum mining companies have already transported some of the ore in police protection while villagers were arrested thrice for stopping the transport.
Regarding the police inquiry into the assault on Ravindra in the jail, the CM told the delegation that he would act further only after receiving the report of the magisterial inquiry he has instituted.
CM is yet to react to the demand of villagers to allow mining related activities in the villager through a co-operative society they have formed, but not registered by the government till date.
