SC order aside, Shirgao mine readies for extraction - ToI

SC order aside, Shirgao mine readies for extraction Gauree Malkarnekar, TNN | Oct 18, 2012, 04.18AM IST SHIRGAO: Despite the Supreme Court ban on all mining activities in the state, a mining pit in the Shirgao village of Bicholim taluka is busy pumping out water, seemingly in preparation for extraction. The mine-Monte de Sirigao iron ore mine on TC (transfer certificate) No. 4/49-appears to have hit the water table. When the TOI team visited Shirgao on Wednesday, the overwhelming sound of gushing water could be heard at every nook and corner. Locals said the mine, in the core of the village, is pumping the water out to sea even as wells and springs in Shirgao have dried up and fields remain uncultivated for want of water. The water, gushing as if a stream, is being directed towards the Par river at Assonora via a nullah that flows through the village. Resident Dilip Gaonkar claimed the water is being pumped out of the pit to ready the pit for ore extraction. "The pumping of water continues 24-hours. It is groundwater which is fit for consumption and which can easily be released for the use of villagers, but it is being let out to sea through the nullah in a way that does not allow us to tap it," said Nakul Gaonkar, a farmer whose six-and-a-half acres of land lie barren for want of water. The family now earns its livelihood from a general store. "All our natural water bodies have died. When I was a child we would strike water by digging just three metres. Now we are dependent on tapped water, and that too is irregular," he added. Villagers said the damage caused to the water bodies in Shirgao has been the worst in the last seven years, since China began accepting low grade iron ore extracted in Goa. Thanks to rampant mining, not a patch of nearly 100 hectares of farm land is being cultivated in the village today. The nullah which carries the water being pumped out of the mine cruelly flows past these barren fields. Pointing to the famous Shirgao zatra of goddess Lairai, celebrated in April each year, locals said water tankers feed the dry pond so that the dhonds (formally instituted devotees of the goddess) can take their ritualistic baths. The temple's stream, where idols were washed in the past during the festivals, is dry today. Resident Dilip Gaonkar added that the temple along with 250 of the 350 houses of the village, fall within mining leases. "Nearly every house in the village is in litigation with mining companies over land issues. Mines operate in our property and we are booked for trespassing when we enter our land," he explained. "We had written to the state government not to renew the mines' licences when they had expired in 2007, but the licences were renewed," he added. Nakul summed up, "I don't want any compensation from the mining companies, I only want the activity regulated. I have been fighting for 25 years with authorities and now the government speaks of packages to rehabilitate mining-dependants. What about those affected all these years?" Repeated attempts by TOI to contact the lease holder, NRB Group, for a comment proved futile. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/SC-order-aside-Shirgao-mine-readies-for-extraction/articleshow/16858467.cms