Panaji, Oct 27 (BS): Goa Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai Saturday met Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi to find ways for the resumption of the mining sector in the coastal state.

The Supreme Court, in an order in February this year, had quashed 88 mining leases and banned the extraction of fresh iron ore from March, bringing the sector to a standstill.

"I have met Union Minister Suresh Prabhu and pleaded for the resumption of mining in Goa," Sardesai Saturday told PTI over phone after the meeting in Delhi.

The Goa Mining People's Front had met Sardesai, chief of the Goa Forward Party, last week on the issue and Sardesai had promised the GMPF that he would meet Prabhu.

The GMPF is an umbrella outfit of people dependent on mining.

Sardesai's Goa Forward Party informed that a request by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, dated September 24 this year, to Union Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to amend the Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Act (MMDR) to resume mining in Goa has been referred to the Attorney General of India.

Sardesai also submitted a memorandum on behalf of GMPF to Prabhu.