PANJIM: Twenty-two years is more than two decades. It’s half a lifetime of a cultivating farmer.
A lifetime that has been lost to these farmers of Pissurlem, where mining activity had deposited silt.
But the High Court of Bombay at Goa has shown them the way back to their fields.
The court has directed four mining companies to contribute, what to them, should be a pittance of a little over Rs 18 lakh to desilt 5,000 square metres out of an area of 50,000 to 60,000 square metres covered with silt.
Farmers see it as the beginning of new hope.
Petitioner Hanumant Parab, the same man, who was brutally assaulted in the Valpoi Police Station for leading a farmers’ protest against mining trucks depositing silt, has been vindicated. His lawyer, the renowned Adv Norma Alvares, the joint hero of Goa’s anti-mining litigations, sought further relief by asking for the full 50,000 to 60,000 square metres of the area to be desilted.
But the division bench of Justice Mahesh S Sonak and Justice Valmiki S A Menezes first asked the Director of Mines to complete the desiltation work up to 5,000 square metres and gave liberty to Parab to ask the Director of Mines and Geology to agree to desilt any further area, through a justifiable claim.
Parab hoped that the High Court order would provide hope to those who would now be able to cultivate their fields after 22 years. The High Court, in its order, has directed the Director of Mines and Geology to complete the work of desilting 5,000 square metres of fields at Pissurlem village “as expeditiously as possible” and further to consider and dispose the claim if made by the petitioner to desilt additional area.
Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) writ petition, the court observed that the Director of Mines and Geology had already issued notices/directions dated March 31, 2023, to four mining companies i.e. M/s R S Shetye & Brothers, Carminho Costa, Cosme Costa & Sons and M/s Sesa Resources Limited, asking them to contribute Rs 18,22,700 for desiltation of approximately 5,000 square metres of area in Survey No. 45/12 of Pissurlem village.
The directions were issued following a report by the Directorate of Agriculture that an area of approximately 5,000 square metres in Survey No. 45/12 and a natural lake situated nearby need to be desilted so that agricultural operations can commence.
During the hearing, Adv Norma Alvares, arguing on behalf of the petitioner, submitted that desiltation of only 5,000 square metres of the area would not suffice and that approximately 50,000 to 60,000 square metres of the area would have to be silted.
At the same time, the division bench stated that if such a representation is made within 15 days from the date of the order, the Director of Mines and Geology may consider and dispose the same after hearing both – the petitioner and the mining companies.