Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji (SR)

Panjai, Sep 28: The October deadline set by chief minister Pramod Sawant for resumption of mining activities will not be achieved, said The Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF) on Friday.

As reported in TOI, GMPF president Puti Gaonkar said there has been no progress on how the objective can be achieved. “We are meeting on October 2 to decide on our future course of action. This time it is do or die,” Said Gaonkar.

The state government had put up iron-ore laying at jetties and plots for e-auction on August 22, however, there was a poor response from the ore traders, exporters and mining companies and only 1.7 million mt out of 5.3 million mt of ore put up for e-auction was sold.

Supreme Court in its 2012 Judgement had stated that mining that took place after 2007 was illegal and had declared that ore lying in jetties and plots is state property. The Goa government found out that 15 million mt of iron ore was mined after 2007 out of which the state has managed to auction 10 million mt.