Villagers of Ayasine in Dodamarg taluka of Sindhudurg forced the district administration to adjourn a public hearing organised to clear a mining proposal near the village. The Mining Virodhi Sangharsha Samiti has alleged that the Goa-based Dempo Mining Corporation Limited, which had proposed an iron ore and manganese mine spread over around 434 hectare of land, has not submitted all the documents required under the Rapid Impact Assessment Report (RIAR).
“It was revealed that the company had mislead the people by submitting false documents,” said Vaishali Patil, a leader of the Samiti. In view of the shortcomings in the report, people demanded that the hearing by the district administration be adjourned and rescheduled after rectifying the lacunae. However, additional district collector Dilip Pandharpatti, who was to conduct the hearing, allegedly refused to do so claiming that there was no such provision in the law.
Irked over this, people started demonstrations and stalled the proceedings. Finally, after over two-and-half hours, the hearing was adjourned. “It is a victory of the villagers. Had the hearing been completed, the company would have walked away with the faulty RIAR. That would have been a major blow to the people and the environment,” said Patil.
Comments