Panaji, May 20 (FP): Caught between the influential Goa Church and many hard places, Goa is likely to lob the contentious mining-policy bomb into prime minister-in-waiting Narendra Modi's lap.
Modi, who has in the past favoured public action of natural resources, could well end up deciding the fate of Goa's multi-billion dollar mining industry, which has been plagued by scams engineered by a nexus of powerful mining families from Goa, bureaucrats and politicians, and a prolonged mining ban. The ban was lifted, with conditions, by the Supreme Court last month.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is caught between the watchful eye of the Supreme Court, vigilant green NGOs and a hawkish Church, and believes that the new central government would be in a better position to pitch in assistance vis a vis the mining policy.
"I will consult the central government on mining policy. Methodology for mining should be common across states," Parrikar said, soon after BJP emerged victorious in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
Party insiders claim that throwing the ball in the Modi-led central government's court would enable the Parrikar-administration breathing space, especially at a time when the government is accused of being allegedly run by the mining lobby.
"We do not have an antagonistic government at the Centre now. We are sure that the suggestions we make will be accepted by the central government on the mining issue. Realistically too, there needs to be a pan India policy for mining of natural resources," a senior BJP functionary told Firstpost.
Although the Supreme Court in April lifted the ban on mining after more than a year and a half, a lot of questions raised by the apex court vis a vis laying down norms to legally kickstart the industry in a circumspect way, appear to have been not given importance to by the state government.
After attacking illegal miners when in Opposition, the incumbent BJP-led coalition government is obligated in more ways than one to key family-owned mining companies and the industry in general, for its financial support during the 2012 elections, which returned several legislators with mining interests to the treasury benches.
This is one of the many reasons why Parrikar is being repeatedly grilled by his detractors, over his alleged attempts to handover the plum mining cake back to the same interests who could have fuelled Goa's Rs. 35,000 crore illegal mining scam with a nexus of politicians and bureaucrats.
It also did not help when the chief minister first categorically rejected a recommendation by the Supreme Court to set up a state-run mining corporation to operate the mining industry. Parrikar claimed that it was only a recommendation by the apex court and hence not mandatory.
Then the senior BJP leader went on to say that he was against a state-run corporation because they "provide huge scope for corruption", raising questions about the dozens of already existing government corporations.
A panel of experts appointed by the apex court to study the illegal mining issue in Goa had recommended the formation of a public sector company or a mining corporation to take charge of the mining industry in Goa, in light of the large-scale illegalities carried out by overzealous private mining companies. The Court has also asked the state government to draft a mining policy for the state, which would serve as a legal bedrock for all mining activity in the future.
"The chief minister is playing to corporate lobby which is controlling the mining industry... No one should forget that it was the greed of these private mining companies which led to the mining ban," claims Christopher Fonseca, a veteran Left leader and a spokesperson for the Goa Mining People's Front (GMPF).
Parrikar has also shied off committing himself to the auction route for handing out Goa's existing mining leases, nearly all of which have been illegally operating in the state, another indicator, claim green activists, of the BJP's proximity to the mining industry. His constant shying away from the public auction route for the mining industry, is a departure from what Modi himself advocated in Goa, during his pre-poll Vijay Sankalp rally.
When asked why auctioning of natural resources was not being seen as a chosen route, despite Modi's advice, Parrikar had claimed: "I do not remember Modi saying it should be auctioned... But if he has it will be considered."
Something Claude Alvares of the Goa Foundation, whose petition in the Supreme Court led to the mining ban, thinks differently.
"I do not trust him (Parrikar) to do the right thing," Alvares says, adding that he would approach the apex court again if the government does not take the auction route for allocating mining leases.
The latest attack on the Parrikar government on the mining front comes from the influential Goa Church, which has not only asked the chief minister to form a mining corporation, but also asked him draw up a policy which also looked after environmental impact of the industry.
"Justice demands that the Government of Goa initiate legal action against all those who committed this fraud of illegal mining and recover from them over Rs. 30,000 crores during the five years, since the ore was illegally mined, as also around Rs. 35,000 crores earned on mining outside the lease areas," the letter by Fr. Savio Fernandes, executive secretary of the Council for Social Justice and Peace, the social arm of the Goa Church has demanded.
Parrikar now hopes that throwing the mine-bomb in the central government's court, will ensure safe distance between his detractors and himself, once the mining policy finally comes into play.