Indications are that the mining policy, which is likely to be ready by May end, may dwell upon the critical issues faced by the non-mining community which is on the edge due to flagrant extraction and transportation of the ore.
The farmlands in Goa, which stand devastated due to run-offs by reckless mining activity, are likely to get a special attention in the State Mining Policy which is on the anvil.
Indications are that the mining policy, which is likely to be ready by May end, may dwell upon the critical issues faced by the non-mining community which is on the edge due to flagrant extraction and transportation of the ore.
Senior officers in the State Secretariat told PTI that the issues like dust pollution, run-offs by the mines, agricultural and farmland ravages due to pollution are likely to figure in prominently in the policy which talks of sustainable mining of iron ore in the state.
Several farmlands in seven iron ore-rich talukas in the coastal state are lying parched due to scarcity of water and piling up of silt washed away during monsoons.
The river bodies in these areas too have turned muddy due to release of rejected ore which is stacked at the mining site into them.
The state government has already banned desilting the farms as several illegal miners used to carry out digging under the pretext of cleaning up the silt from the paddy fields, farms or lakes.
Henceforth, the state will have control over the process to remove mud from the farms and money earned from the selling of extracted ore would be spent back on development of farming.
Several villages are on the brink of getting flooded in the monsoon due to unstable walls of the ponds on the mining sites.
Advalpal and its adjoining Mulgao villages had seen houses being flooded due to murky water after the walls of the pond breached in in the last five years.
Tribals from the areas like Cauvrem are complaining that their farms have been left unyielding due to dust pollution.
A senior officer said that the policy will also hold responsible the mining firms for dust pollution and illegal transportation of ore.
"Mining being an important business in the state, it is impossible to ban export of iron ore. But certainly, the policy will work out measures to control it," he said.
The state government is also likely to take a cue from the mining policy, which was in draft stage since 2008 awaiting implementation, framed by the erstwhile Congress government.
The portions from Union ministry's Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act would also be considered as a part of the state policy, a senior official added.
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