Goa CM towards making Villages vulnerable to mining industry, but why?

Why Goa CM is so determined to make Goa villages vulnerable to mining industry?

Goa Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant is in Delhi on a mission rather sinister: to ask for the exception of application of provision (i) of the Office Memorandum dated 29 October 2014 issued by Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change dealing with safety of village roads from transportation of mineral ore that reads as follows:

"Transportation of the minerals by road passing through the village shall not be allowed. A 'bypass' road should be constructed (say, a leaving gap of at least 200 meters) for the purpose of the transportation of the minerals so that the impact of sound, dust and accident could be mitigated. The PP shall bear the cost towards widening and strengthening of existing public road network in case the same is proposed to be used for the project. No road movement should be allowed on existing village road network without appropriately increasing carrying capacity of such roads."

What Goa CM is proposing is very dangerous. He is challenging established environmental jurisprudence of India designed to defend village integrity from mining menace.

When he and the Project Proponent (PP) knew that there were no legal access roads that are available for the transportation of mineral iron ore in Pilgao and Mayem then it was wrong in the first place to go for the auctioning of the ore. It was double wrong to go for the public hearing by concealing this information in EIA report.

So the first wrong has been committed by Goa Government by going for auctioning of Bicholim Mineral Block I to Vedanta Private Limited without ready access road on ground.

The second wrong is committed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change by granting Environmental Clearance without legal access road to transport extracted iron ore.

Under no circumstances villagers of Mayem and Pilgao and other villages should be put to risk by opening their village roads for transportation of minerals from any of the mining companies.

Office Memorandum provides safeguards from impact of sound, dust and accident. Goa CM is attempting in Delhi to make our villages vulnerable to the impact of sound, dust and accident from mining ore transportation. Goa has has lost far too many lives due to mining triggered accidents over the past decades and CM desires more blood and lives of people of Goa.

This CM Sawant is certaintly acting against village safety interests on behalf of mining industry. In fact he should be flung out of his chair much before any of the cabinet ministers like Govind Gawde.

Mining in Goa has roots in Portuguese colonial rule and has continued unabated after 18 December 1961 veto by Soviet Union at UN security council that allowed India to annex Goa through conquest. Mining is top most industry that has corrupted Goa's polity and Chief Minister is its highly corroded beneficiary. As a consequence he is unable to represent people of Goa inpite of elections and represents only mining industry that has enslaved Goa CM. Slave has no mind of his own but has to obey master's orders. Who is the master of Goa CM Sawant for whom he is behaving in this bizarre manner? Undoubtedly it's mining industry that rules his mind and he doesn't think twice before betraying people of Goa. Election is more of Commerce than anything else. Democracy is hijacked by mining industry.

It's mining industry that moves his gloves to Delhi to box out 29 October 2014 office Memorandum of MOEF&CC and make villages in Goa vulnerable to mining industry.

Call to release all those detained due to mining protests in Mayem

 Action Alert

Call to release all those detained due to mining protests in Mayem, Bicholim, Goa

According to the confirmed information six people are illegally detained at the Bicholim Police station without any charges in them. They were arrested today 13 January morning at 10.30 am while protesting illegal transportation ore from their village of Mayem from Chowgule mine at Paira, Mayem.

Those amongst six includes Babuso Karbotkat, Santosh Sawant, Santosh Malvankar, Ajit Sawant, Apa Salgaonkar, Naguesh Naik.

Iron ore is being transported by contactor Dinesh Gauns through the village road in Mayem and is objected by villagers. 

It is also alleged by the villagers that Goa Chief Minister is directly involved in abuse of police force in his capacity as Home Minister for some petty selfish gains and detriment of the Public Interest. It is not know as to how much of 35,000 crores of mining scam has reached Goa Chief Minister as evidently he is silent on recovery of this amount.

Please call up Bicholim Police Station at numbers below and demand immediate release of all those detained at the Bicholim Police Station.

Phone: 0832 2362233

Bicholim Police Inspector Dinesh Gadekar mobile 7875756033

Goa has enough of mining loot, let's not tolerate it any further. Let's stop abuse of Police as private security of mining companies and mining contractors any more!

Minutes of Vedanta Limited Public Hearing as Public Butchery

With Mining company ex-Environmental cum Public Relations officer as the Chairman of the Goa State Pollution Control Board in the form of Mahesh Patil (https://goaspcb.gov.in/constitution-of-board/) the autonomous institution has been drastically reduced in their capacity to deal with conduct of public hearing in suitable and efficient manner. At Sarvan on 11 August 2023 Public Hearing norms were flung to the winds. At the end of the Public Hearing minutes were to be prepared and shared. It was not done till 1.30 am on 12 August 2023. Notes taking capacity was in total mess. People had no idea as to whose names are omitted and whose names are included. Entire staff of GSPCB looked in total disarray. It looked that space given to the staff of London based Anil Agarwal's company Vedanta Limited staff on the stage were controlling the strings behind the scene behind the installed black curtain on the stage.

Minutes of the Public Hearing was declared by the North Goa Collector will be put out on the website in two days time. Finally today it is online after five days at https://goaspcb.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/MINUTES.pdf. One look revealed that the entire page 12 is missing. Names of speakers and their contribution from serial no 33 to 35 has vanished. There has been careful deletion of contents and names of the speakers too. Nilesh Karbatkar from Mayem who is the Union leader of the Sesa Goa mining corporation has been marked absent "not present" at serial number 153 even though he not only was present and also spoke critically about Vedanta. Noted voice critical about mining in Goa Ramesh Gauns saw that his speech recorded at the minutes is nothing short of butchery at serial no.124.


There is no hope for improvement. Crisis that has set in has taken chronic proportions. As long as Vedanta has its ex-employees as the Chairman of GSPCB nothing really expected to change. As this is the first Public Hearing of the Auctioned iron ore mines things have become clearer than ever: mining industry has taken firm grip over the GSPCB and butchery in noting of minutes and writings of minutes will be sharpened as the days goes on, maturity of butchers increase.


A new league of money games has just become visible!


Dr.S.A. Rodrigues

BMM condemns knife attack on Sanjay Mayekar of Mayem

Bharat Mukti Morcha strongly condemns the knife attack on Sanjay Mayekar on Nomember 26, 2015 with grievous injuries in Mayem, Bicholim. Sanjay is a brother of Kashinath Mayekar of Mayem Nagrik Samiti dealing with evacuee property issue. At the time of attack Sanjay was a place where survey work was going on to grant land titles to the Mayem villagers. For so long Mayem has witnessed obstacles to legal land access to the villagers while mining companies had obstacle free access to evacuee property in Mayem especially Chowgules that had dried up 300 village water ground wells causing scarcity of water for agriculture. 

Kashinath Mayekar and his brother Sanjay has been involved in questioning this state of affairs for past 3 decades. Kashinath Mayekar along with later Fr. Bismarque Dias shared stage with Hon. Waman Meshram at Bharat Mukti Morcha public meeting on October 29, 2011 at Azad Maidan Panjim. Check this links for picture. Bharat Mukti Morcha calls for Judicial investigation in this knife attack in view of faltering confidence in Goa Police we witnessed in murder of Fr.Bismarque Dias murder. Bharat Mukti Morcha calls for criminal prosecution of  those involved in the attack on Sanjay Mayenkar.