Goa Blog

Environmental activists like Goa Foundation founder Claude Alvares were banking on hope that the Supreme Court will stop iron ore extraction in the state, where villagers staying at the foothills and mountains have been suffering for decades.

YES, GOA has blood on its mountains, of forest being denuded and water resources drying up through mining activity. The misery the mining industry has invariably dumped on the Goans over the last few decades. A different Goa, from the one projected by the tourism department to the outside world.

Mining has been the second most revenue generating industry for the state after Tourism. But at what cost?

Villagers staying at the foothills and mountains have been suffering for decades the ill effects of blatant rape of the hills by the mining giants. And the rape of the environment continues.

Environmental activists like Goa Foundation founder Claude Alvares were banking on hope that the Supreme Court will stop iron ore extraction in the state. The hope faded away with the highest court of the land clearing the decks for resumption of mining in January this year, with a rider that it should be environmentally friendly.

Colamb village is some 60 kilometers from the state capital. A village sandwiched between the two talukas of Quepem and Sanguem in south Goa, where almost 1,510 hectares of land may be mined, out of the village’s 1,929 odd hectares. Here the Fomento’s are operating a mining site of Hiralal Khodidas, which has a lease agreement dated back to 1949 of the Portuguese era. Goa gained its liberation in 1962 from Portuguese colonial rule through an Indian army operation.

Welcome to the house of Rama Velip. Everything in life is simple for this man. No luxuries items are on show in his small mud palm leaf roof house but just sticking to the simple basic necessitates of life. He belongs to one of the original inhabitants of Goa, the Scheduled tribe, by virtue of which the community enjoy a few privileges in government employment and seats to professional colleges for students all over India.

But all that has got no meaning for him and other villagers in Colomb, he is surviving on his farms, like his forefathers did for the last several decades. But the dependence on farming is facing threat from mining.

There is long drawn struggle going on in Colamb over the destruction of forest and agriculture due to mining industry. This is a situation for large number of villages in Sanguem and Quepem Talukas. Protests of the villagers are only rising with every passing day.

A Wheel Loader of Fometo’s mining company was sent back when it came to clear the illegal road through the forest. Women of the village met the mining company manager and served strong warning signal in case it tries to resume transporting the Ore though Forest.

“Villagers here (Colamb) are exercising their constitutional duty to protect the environment and forest. Mining company is trying to bulldoze its way over the Colamb villagers even as the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court has admitted the petition in this regard on March 10, 2008. Forest department and Sanguem Police had stopped mining company from transporting the ore and arrested two persons along with one truck and a Jeep seized,” says Sebestian Rodrigues, a Siolim village based Goan who has been following Goa mining issues on his blog entry made on March 15, this year.

Another entry made a day earlier says: “It may be noted that Goa Bench of Bombay High Court has admitted the petition of Rama Velip and others on March 10, 2008 seeking directions to close down this mine with TC No 06/1949 due to disastrous fallout on their agriculture and natural water sources. The next hearing is to up on March 24, 2008; Fomentos however are trying to forcefully transport the ore before that date. The company is indeed walking on narrow path of contempt of Court,” his entry says.

Villagers are trying to protect their farms and after failing to dissuade the miners through persuasion, they have approached the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court. The state machinery, from police to forest department officials, was not so keen on giving the oppressed minority justice. The court moves come in a bid to bring an end to the impending danger mining is set to unleash on their habitat and their livelihood.

According to official estimates, the state has 430 leases for mines given out. Till 1998, only 99 leases were put to use but the increase in prices offered by China to the iron ore saw the old leases being taken out and worked on. In Colamb mines were not been worked for the simple reason they were close to village’s habitat and the mining companies will see a backlash from the local people in forms of protests. And that is what has been happening in the rural villages of Goa. Naqueri in Betual of Quepem Taluka is rising in protest over Bauxite mining.

Regardless of what happens Rama Velip and his fellow villagers have a fight to protect the forests and the natural resources, the tools of his livelihood. They have a big task in hand.

The clock is ticking for the industry. Mine owners say that with present technologies of extraction and production, Goa will be out of iron ore in about 20 years.

Courtesy: merinews