Dear Rajendra Kakodkar
Your letter to Agnelo Pinheiro caught my attention. What a wonderful concept from an enlightened judge that the natural resources like ore belong to all of us! But you are not serious about the possibility of such ideas being implemented in Goa, are you?!!!! Where have you been my friend? India’s new mining policy advocates a % share of the profits with local communities, but how will people know the real profits? Even if 10% of the share is allocated to the local communities, by the time the money gets to them if at all, they will get hardly 0.5% if they are lucky….. that is the sad reality of a place where honesty and integrity have absolute no meaning among the rulers of our land. Seriously, in Goa this idea will never work, even with rulings from the Supreme Court. Miners and State Government in Goa operate as if they are all above the law and with total impunity, and are in the habit of ignoring court orders and rulings unless they are in their favour of course. There seems to be a break down of law and order in Goa, as crime and illegal activities don’t suffer practically any consequences. Miners are exploiting Goa’s resources systematically ignoring rules and regulations under which they have been granted licenses to explore our mineral wealth. These facts I learned from official reports from recent monitoring of mines. Has any one taken any action as a result? NO. Legal mines or illegal mines - it does not matter. Bottom line is corruption and confusion reigns, and social and environmental justice is anathema in Goa. The idea of Goa’s CM doing anything for Goans is simply preposterous! Local state government officials, unable to do anything to control this industry which is protected by the government which in turn is ruled by the miners, either because they don't know how, or because no one seems to know how, have become experts at passing the buck right round every office that has remotely to do with mining so nothing ever is done to mitigate the effects of mining – no one seems to have the power or the jurisdiction to act. What is going in Goa!? Meanwhile the miners laugh all the way to the bank, having filled up the pockets of various ministers and police on the way and helped many ministers and extended families to also jump in the mining bandwagon. Other politicians who are not exploiting the mines directly, are exploiting it indirectly, through the transport of ore, which is operated as if it is the real Mafia, making sure the truck drivers overload the trucks for maximum profit and maximum inconvenience of local populations and their health and environment. Overloading already has a ruling from the Bombay High Court forbidding the overloading. But the transport Mafia controlled by politicians is so powerful that even the mine owners can’t control and regulate the loading of trucks in their own territory and tyheir own mines, their own iron ore! Can you beat that? This is what I found out during my recent trip to Goa. That is how it works in Goa. My head is spinning with so much devastating information about the state of affairs in Goa! Mining is causing so much damage at all levels – moral, environmental - that what we need to work towards is phasing out mining and bringing in green and sustainable technology as an alternative. Studies from NIO and Goa University have stated that the siltation rates are so high that they predict the extinction of life in the Mandovi and Zuari estuaries in the near future. Heavy metals are already found in the food chain as result of water pollution and careless transport of ore in the roads and rivers of Goa. So when you no longer have forests, water to drink, and all your food is poisoned what do we need the money for? There is nowhere to run, my friend! Cheers! Carmen Miranda
