Sardesai assures to take up Goa mining issue with Prabhu

Goa minister Vijai Sardesai Thursday said he would soon meet Union minister Suresh Prabhu to seek his intervention in resolving the mining crisis in the state.

Sardesai, who is state Agriculture Minister and president of the Goa Forward Party (GFP), gave this assurance to a delegation of Goa Mining People's Front led by Puti Gaonkar.

"I will be going to Delhi. That time I will meet Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, who is member of group of ministers (GoM). I will ask him where the file is stuck. If required, I will call the mining dependents to Delhi," he said.

The Supreme Court in its verdict on February 7 this year had quashed 88 mining leases, due to which the industry operations in the state came to a standstill affecting around three lakh people dependent on it.

The Goa government has urged the Centre to pass an ordinance in the Parliament to amend the existing central legislation governing the mining sector, allowing the state to bypass the SC order.

Sardesai claimed that he was the first cabinet minister who supported the idea that ordinance was a solution to resume mining operations in the state. "If you want a solution then we have to move an ordinance in the Parliament," he said.

He said the state government will have to take the step for resumption of mining activity. "The court (SC) might like it or not (the steps taken), but we assure the people that we are with them," he said.