Setback to Goa mine owners; HC disallows transportation of ore

Disallowing transportation of iron ore piled up outside mining leases, the Bombay High Court at Goa today flagged the pollution in villages in the state's mining belt, and slammed the government for its apathy.

The contrast between the state government's response to mine owners' concerns and that to the mining-affected populace's problems was "too stark", it said.

The division bench of Justices N M Namdar and Prithviraj Chauhan quashed the order of Goa Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma, which had allowed transportation of the ore piled up outside mining leases.

The mining activity in Goa has come to a standstill since March 16 after the Supreme Court quashed second renewal of 88 iron ore extraction leases.

"These villages have suffered severe air pollution due to mining, the natural streams have been polluted and dried up and many do not have water to drink," the bench said in its order in response to a petition filed by NGO Goa Foundation, opposing transportation of the already excavated ore.

"In this petition, there was absolute lack of any response from the state. At first there were simple denials that problem is not serious.

"We had to pass series of orders over a period of four months just to ensure that the state takes steps to provide drinking water to these villages," the judges said.

"We found that Rs 180 crore were collected by the state of Goa in last two years in District Mineral Fund for the mining-affected people, but not even single rupee was spent," the court said.

"We had to literally push the state on every date to do something to alleviate the suffering of the innocent mining-affected (people)," the court said.

The "sharp contrast" in the government's response to the "Mining Affected" and that to the "Mining Beneficiaries" is "too stark for us not to notice", the judges said, adding that "we write it here because it pains our conscience."