Red Christmas for several villages in Goa….Viju B
Bicholim,Goa: Like every year,party-goers in Goa will head towards the famous sunsoaked Calangute beach for yet another round of joyful Christmas and New Year parties.But what they probably do not know is that,like every year,the villagers of Shirgaon located just a few kilometres from the beach are still trying to find new ways to escape the toxic red dust that enters their drawing rooms every day.
Shirgaon has three mines operated by Chougules,Bandekar and Dempo in and around the 3-sq-km village.In the last five years,the villagers have turned from being owners of fertile land to dwellers in a wasteland,with all their wells going dry and paddy fields turning toxic.
This is the untold story of Goa beyond the glitz and glamour of sandy beaches,as village after village,taluka after taluka in the plateaus and valleys along the Western Ghats have been ecologically ruined due to indiscriminate mining.
Data from the Goa forest department show that,out of the total 355 mining leases awarded,110 are for operational ones.Of these,90 mining leases are given in the core forest area.
Mining is on in nine of the states 10 talukas.In most cases,the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) reports have been fabricated and the public hearings were just a sham, says Bicholim-based environmental activist Ramesh Gavas.
Local politicians play an active role in approving and operating the mines here.They approach the land owners who have mining leases and help them in approving the leases,and then operate the mines themselves, Gavas claims.In fact,21 public hearings were held recently in a ministers chamber in south Goa,while the mines were situated 25 km away in Sanguem.
There are 27 loading points on the Mandovi river,and 27 mines are located along it.It is estimated that around seven lakh tonnes of iron particles get deposited in the Mandovi annually,while 3,330 tonnes of residue land in the Zuvari.
Goa,which accounts for just 4% of the countrys geographical area,produces 40% of Indias total iron production.In the early 1980s,only 13-15 million tonnes were exported.The figure has now risen to 33 million tonnes,mainly due to the huge demand from China even for low-grade iron ore, D Stalin,project director of Vanashakti,said.
The result of decades of mining can be seen in the dry wells a majority of villages adjoining the mining areas now have.
We used to have at least 100 coconut trees here.Now all of them have become dead stalks.Paddy fields have become barren as there is no water and many people have migrated, said Digambar Gavkar,a Shirgoan villager.
Ironically,Gavkar used to be an earth mover driver in the Dempo mines.
The miners have tasted blood.Today,they go beyond the water table levels and dig deep for iron ore.Even low grade ore has a huge demand in China.So,they even re-dig the mines that were unused for a long time, he says.
* RED HELL: Indiscriminate mining has cost several Goan villages dear