Hundreds join candle march seeking reopening of mines in Goa

Panaji (Goa) [India], Feb 8 (ANI): Seeking the restart of closed mines, a mass solidarity candle march was organised from Azad Maidan to Miramar circle here on Friday by those who are dependent on mining for their livelihoods. They also voiced their concern over the government inaction in this regard.
One of the protestors told ANI: “On technical grounds, the Supreme Court stopped the mining in the state on February 7, 2018. For the past one year, we have been demanding from the State and the Central government to restart mining in Goa. Mining here is very different from other places. The mining in Goa was never covered under the MRDA.”
On February 7, 2018, based on a few public interest litigations (PILs) filed by three different petitioners, the Supreme Court had quashed lease renewals. In effect, it restored the earlier position that all mining after November 22, 2007 were illegal.
In October 2012, the apex court suspended all iron ore mining and transportation in the state following a report submitted by Justice MB Shah Commission, which found that millions of tonnes of iron ore were mined illegally.
The report stated that illegal mining was being carried out in conspiracy with the state government including then Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, which had pegged the losses to the exchequer at about Rs 35,000 crore.
In 2015, the State government renewed 88 mining leases, all owned by those who were accused of illegal mining. (ANI)