Panaji, Apr 4 (IANS): Soon after the Congress put in an application before the office of the Speaker of the Goa Assembly, seeking to nominate its senior MLA Michael Lobo as the Leader of Opposition, Lobo told reporters that his first priority would be to leverage pressure on the BJP-led coalition government to restart mining in the state.

Lobo said that restarting the mining sector, which has been virtually non-functional since 2018 following a Supreme Court order, would kickstart the state's economy and give a fillip to employment.

"The first issue we will take up is resumption of sustainable mining to help the youth, truck owners and others who are unemployed. Let us see what suggestion the Chief Minister gives for resumption of mining," Lobo said.

"Restarting mining is necessary because of employment and revenue generation in order to assist the state's coffers. The budget is going to be flat if mining does not restart," he added.

The mining issue has been hanging fire in Goa ever since the apex court banned extraction and transportation of iron ore from 88 mining leases in March 2018, while also directing the state government to re-issue mining leases.

In his budget speech, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said that the state government is keen on harvesting iron ore from 'dumps' (low grade iron ore) in order to rejuvenate the sector.

Last year, the Goa government had started the Goa Mineral Development Corporation to streamline ore extraction procedures.