Senior Congress leader in Goa, Pratapsinh Rane, on Tuesday demanded that those who had moved court seeking shutdown of mining activity had “no right” to stay in the state and be “driven out”. The former chief minister made the statement while speaking in the Legislative Assembly on the Demands for Grants for the mining department.
Expressing anguish over closure of the mining industry in the wake of the supreme court verdict since March, 2018, Rane said, “Some unemployed people go to court and manage to get stay on the business. I don’t know who fund these people, from where they get the money to go to court. These people should be sent out ofthe state”. He further said “such people” are dangerous for Goa.
“They have no right to stay in Goa. The government should extern them,” he said, adding that shutdown of the mining industry has affected livelihood of lakhs. “The machinery is rotting up. Trucks are without any business. People dependent on mining are facing many hardships,” he said.
The apex court had in February 2018 quashed the second renewal of iron ore mining leases given to 88 companies in Goa in 2015. The judgement came on a petition filed by an NGO, Goa Foundation, which had earlier also raised the issue of companies carrying out mining in violation of various statutes.
The state government has since been seeking the Centre’s help in circumventing the ban.
