Panaji: The Sarpanchas from around twenty panchayats who are dependent on Iron Ore mining for their revenue generation has petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to intervene in resumption of the industry.
The mining industry in Goa is stalled since the year 2018 after Supreme Court quashed 88 mining leases.
Various Sarpanchas from the mining belt have come together to write to the Prime Minister appealing him to save the livelihood of the people.
The letter which was written on November 18, 2021 to the Prime Minister’s Office was made public on Tuesday by a group of Sarpanchas.
“We represent people from various village panchayats covering almost five lakh population from the rural and marginalized section of Goa, who are in situation of no means of livelihood for the last ten years as the mining industry in the state has been completely destroyed,” the letter reads, apparently referring to the first mining ban which came in the year 2012 owing to the alleged illegalities in this sector.
Sarpanchas, which includes village panchayats of Rivona, Bhati, Xeldem, Curdi, Uguem in South Goa besides others, have said that their representation to various authorities have fallen on the deaf ears.
“We have made various representations to various authorities about our state of absolute helplessness and despair. Since the year 2018, we along with our various other village panchayat bodies have been liasoning with the state government as well as with mining stakeholders to help us in providing the employment through resumption of the industry,” the representation reads.
The Sarpanchas have said that they have exhausted all their resources and can no longer endure this misery. “The situation has further worsened due to current pandemic,” the representation adds.
