‘ Mining’ is a misnomer.

What goes on in Goa is plundering.

Goa’s mine operators are today’s version of Mahmud Ghazni, Muhammad Ghor and Tamerlane who plundered India a millennium ago.

O ver the last few weeks many editors and knowledgeable people have written well- researched articles about the mining industry in Goa. For a quarter of a century people like Ramesh Gawas, Rajendra Kakodkar and Claude Alvares have taken up mining- related issues with various government departments. All these departments have turned out to be nothing but paper tigers. Their purpose seems to be belied by their performance. They have turned a blind eye to all the violations of the mining industry.

With their omission or lack of commission, they have encouraged and legitimised all the illegalities, scams and frauds of the mining lobby.

To regulate mining we have a plethora of government departments and government servants ( who we all know are more like serpents than servants). So we have a Department of Geology and Mines, Goa State Pollution Control Board, Forest Department, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Indian Bureau of Mines, Department of Land Revenue! And yet the mining companies get away with a multiplicity of violations of the laws of the land. It is quite obvious that the bureau( c) rats and techno( c) rats are using laws and loopholes to leverage all kinds of concessions and considerations from the perpetrators of the crimes being committed in the name of mining.

In fact, ‘ mining’ is a misnomer.

What goes on in Goa is plundering. Goa’s mine operators are today’s version of Mahmud of Ghazni, Muhammad of Ghor and Tamerlane who plundered India a millennium ago.

Between 1995 and 2000, I visited many worked- out / abandoned and active mines in Goa.

Even then, when iron- ore exports from Goa were in the region of 14 million tonnes per annum, the situation in places like Mulgao and Lamgao was horrendous. Doors and windows of homes were closed when the mine was in operation.

In spite of this, all the furniture was permanently covered with dust. All the wells in the area had dried up due to de- watering in the mine pits.

Respiratory diseases were 36 times higher than the average for Goa. Noise levels were way above the comfort threshold. I can well- imagine the state of affairs now that the iron- ore exports have gone- up from 14 M. T. P. A. to 50 M. P. T. A. Whenever I visited a mine site, the mine operators’ name was very clearly visible and easily recognizable. These names were boldly painted. In huge two- foot high letters, on all the trucks, dozers, excavators, graders, loaders and stationary equipment like pumps, compressors, generators! Today, all this has changed. All these operations have been outsourced.

Politicians and people from the area have been co- opted and made stake- holders. They have become defenders of mining / plundering, especially since they have all borrowed huge funds to finance their businesses.

Hence, even bank managers and truck / equipment salesmen have fallen into the debt- trap which has so cleverly been sprung on them. The same debttrap has swallowed the bargeowners but on a much bigger scale.

Three weeks ago two news items in our dailies caught my attention. One was written by the mining dependant peoples’ representatives and the other by two women sarpanchas from villages touched by mining operations.

Both these articles made more or less the same assertions about their dependence on mining and their financial indebtedness to banks and financial institutions. Both gave the same set of figures. Firstly, the number of trucks has gone- up from 5,000 to 25,000 in the last 8 years. Secondly, the number of trips per truck has gone- down to one per day from the earlier five trips per day. Naturally! If the number of trucks increase by a factor of five, the number of trips will go down by the same factor of five. The tonnage exported remains the same.

One final observation, relevant or irrelevant: If 25,000 trucks are lined- up one behind the other, with a two- meter gap in between, they will stretch over a distance of 250 kilometres- going from North to South Goa is 105 kilometres long. With our greed and hubris we have woven an intricate web of selfentrapment.

Our government has painted itself into a corner and is now waiting for Justice Shah to exorcise these demons.

Anthony SimoeS politically incorrect