Goa Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant is in Delhi on a mission rather sinister: to ask for the exception of application of provision (i) of the Office Memorandum dated 29 October 2014 issued by Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change dealing with safety of village roads from transportation of mineral ore that reads as follows:
"Transportation of the minerals by road passing through the village shall not be allowed. A 'bypass' road should be constructed (say, a leaving gap of at least 200 meters) for the purpose of the transportation of the minerals so that the impact of sound, dust and accident could be mitigated. The PP shall bear the cost towards widening and strengthening of existing public road network in case the same is proposed to be used for the project. No road movement should be allowed on existing village road network without appropriately increasing carrying capacity of such roads."
What Goa CM is proposing is very dangerous. He is challenging established environmental jurisprudence of India designed to defend village integrity from mining menace.
When he and the Project Proponent (PP) knew that there were no legal access roads that are available for the transportation of mineral iron ore in Pilgao and Mayem then it was wrong in the first place to go for the auctioning of the ore. It was double wrong to go for the public hearing by concealing this information in EIA report.
So the first wrong has been committed by Goa Government by going for auctioning of Bicholim Mineral Block I to Vedanta Private Limited without ready access road on ground.
The second wrong is committed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change by granting Environmental Clearance without legal access road to transport extracted iron ore.
Under no circumstances villagers of Mayem and Pilgao and other villages should be put to risk by opening their village roads for transportation of minerals from any of the mining companies.
Office Memorandum provides safeguards from impact of sound, dust and accident. Goa CM is attempting in Delhi to make our villages vulnerable to the impact of sound, dust and accident from mining ore transportation. Goa has has lost far too many lives due to mining triggered accidents over the past decades and CM desires more blood and lives of people of Goa.
This CM Sawant is certaintly acting against village safety interests on behalf of mining industry. In fact he should be flung out of his chair much before any of the cabinet ministers like Govind Gawde.
Mining in Goa has roots in Portuguese colonial rule and has continued unabated after 18 December 1961 veto by Soviet Union at UN security council that allowed India to annex Goa through conquest. Mining is top most industry that has corrupted Goa's polity and Chief Minister is its highly corroded beneficiary. As a consequence he is unable to represent people of Goa inpite of elections and represents only mining industry that has enslaved Goa CM. Slave has no mind of his own but has to obey master's orders. Who is the master of Goa CM Sawant for whom he is behaving in this bizarre manner? Undoubtedly it's mining industry that rules his mind and he doesn't think twice before betraying people of Goa. Election is more of Commerce than anything else. Democracy is hijacked by mining industry.
It's mining industry that moves his gloves to Delhi to box out 29 October 2014 office Memorandum of MOEF&CC and make villages in Goa vulnerable to mining industry.