Panaji, Aug 8 (TOI): Prime minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday assured chief minister Manohar Parrikar and other ministers from the Goa cabinet that he would look into the issue of resuming mining activities in Goa. “The Centre will find a solution to the mining issues through legal means, but it can be concluded from Tuesday’s meeting that the solution will definitely follow,” South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar said.

The group of ministers (GoM), constituted by the PM to look into the mining issue, told Parrikar that the Union government will take legal means to resume mining activities, which came to halt on March 15 after the Supreme Court quashed the renewal of 88 mining leases on February 9 and directed the state to stop mining activities. The GoM also deliberated on steps to be taken to ensure early resumption of mining in Goa.

Parrikar briefed the GoM on the historical evolution of mining in Goa and the economic and social impacts of its closure as a consequence of the SC judgment. The GoM appreciated the concern expressed by the CM and assured that all possible measures to resume mining would be taken.

A delegation comprising Parrikar, Union minister Shripad Naik, and MPs Sawaikar and Vinay Tendulkar also presented to the PM a copy of the private member’s resolution passed by the assembly recently to resume mining in the state.

“The PM gave us a patient hearing and assured us that he would look into the issue,” Sawaikar said, adding that the delegation had a positive meeting with the GoM. “A detailed presentation about Goa’s mining scenario was given to the GoM, following which discussions were held to find a solution through legal means. This, of course, would require meetings with all ministries concerned, but it can be concluded from today’s meetings that the solution will definitely follow,” the South Goa MP said.

In the resolution passed in the state assembly, Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral had said, “This House strongly recommends that the government of Goa urge the central government to take appropriate steps to suitably amend the Goa, Daman and Diu Mining Concessions (Abolition and Declaration as Mining Leases) Act, 1987, and make it applicable prospectively with effect from May 23, 1987, that is the day it was enacted, instead of retrospective effect from December 12, 1961, so as to enable the current mining leases to remain operational upto 2037.”

“The House should resolve to urge the central government to amend the MMDR Act, 1957 suitably in such a way as to give the benefit of the 50-year tenures introduced retrospectively in 2015 by way of Sec 8A(3), to the mining concessions in Goa, which though were converted into mining leases only in the year 1987, were given a fictional date of grant of 1961 so as to allow collection of dead rent and royalty for the past by the government of India,” Cabral said.