Protests erupt in Goa tribal village against illegal mining

Protests have erupted in this village located 60 kms away from Panaji, the latest protest being on Saturday when 95 villagers were placed under arrest for blocking traffic.

"We will continue agitating till the menace is stopped.  We have petitioned almost all the government agencies but the illegal truck operations don't stop," said Nilesh Gaonkar, activist, Cauvrem Adivasi Bachao Samiti.

The villagers frequently meet at Gatranchi Dev temple, a place where tribals hold their religious rituals. "Its dust all over. Mines have devasted our village and the farms," he said.

Alike several other villages in the mining fiefdom, its difficult to reach to Cauvrem, a village which is home to 1,000 tribals from Velip and Gaonkar communities.

On the way, you come across huge six-wheeler trucks raising dust and dirt. Opposition to mining, especially illegal truck operations, runs deep in this part of South Goa.

The tribals who consider their mountain as sacred are aghast to see that a mining firm began excavating on a hill here. A month back, they launched a massive agitation and rushed to the office of Director of Mines in Panaji and got the permission to stop work at the mine site.

But woes did not end here as three existing mines continued with truck movements.
"This year, almost 90 per cent of the chilly cultivation has been damaged. Also, the paddy cultivation has not survived due to mining silt," Gaonkar said gesturing out to the fields.

The villagers have petitioned agriculture department, mines department and even transport department urging them to come to the village and inspect the conditions here.
"No one has turned up yet," Gaonkar said.

The tribals, who spent hours in the lock up of a local police station for blocking trucks on Saturday, have now decided to continue their agitation even today.

"Are we left with any other option," questioned Prabhakar Velip, a village elderly.
The villagers who were arrested for agitating has now filed ten different complaints with the Superintendent of Police (South) against atrocities on them.

Of the ten applications, eight are of women, whose belongings like mangalsutra and earings were lost in the melee. One of them was allegedly manhandled on the road by male constables. "They tore her saree on the street. Its a shameful act," Gaonkar said.

The women protestors have also decided to approach Goa State Women's Commission with a complaint against male police constables, who ruthlessly dragged them on Saturday.

Meanwhile, children in the mining belt of Pale in North Eastern Bicholim taluka of Goa are suffering as, caught between mining dumps and roaring trucks, they find it difficult to go to their schools.

The teachers claim that their pupils often suffer from skin diseases and cold due to the flying dust that they inhale during school hours.

Almost a dozen schools including the primary ones run by the state government here have to deal with a lot of dust due to the huge daily traffic of trucks.

As per a rough estimate, more than 1,000 students are directly affected in Bicholim taluka itself.

In some schools, the number of students enrolled is decreasing as nearby villages are abandoned by people due to the intense mining.

People have shifted to towns like Sanquelim, Mapusa and Ponda to get respite from the dust pollution. There are almost half-a-dozen mining firms which operate around this area extracting iron ore which is exported to China and European countries.

Goa exports 45 million metric tonnes of ore annually through its 105 mining sites.