The mining hurricane that emerged with the Chinese Olympics boom around 2005 and which has by now destroyed huge tracts of Bellary and its forests in Karnataka, has also laid waste large tracts of beautiful Goa. However, since a Congress government rules the small State, the public resentment generated over the havoc caused by greedy iron ore miners remained unacknowledged till the sudden arrival of the Justice Shah Commission of Inquiry two weeks ago.
After that, all hell has broken loose and it now appears that the unfolding scenario may follow closely the developments in Karnataka. In fact, Justice Shah’s report on the state of illegal mining in Goa may have as much, if not greater, fallout that the reports of the Lokayukta and Central Empowered Committee had on the mining industry and politics of Karnataka.
Let me begin with a few simple comparisons between Goa and Bellary. The size of Bellary is 8,477 sq km, while the size of the entire state of Goa is only 3,702 sq km. Bellary is a single district in Karnataka and has 99 operating mines, whereas Goa has close to 135 sanctioned mines (with around 90 operating any given moment). The Goa mining area is actually located in only four talukas out of 12, which means that the 55 million tonnes of ore exported in the last year from Goa was extracted from just one-fourth its total area. The resultant devastation can well be imagined.
Swami Vivekananda 