Shantaram Naik says mining policy is legal fiction

PANAJI: Calling the government's mining policy 2012 "deceptive" and "legal fiction", Congress MP Shantaram Naik told mediapersons on Saturday that only if propositions in the policy's propositions are backed by statute can it be enforceable. "The government's policy does not speak of any legal framework to implement the policy," stressed the senior Congress leader.
Pointing out that the state government has to "ultimately implement national legislation", he added, "The central government has circulated a draft model state mineral policy 2010 for guidance, but the state government has not referred to it."
Recalling how chief minister Manohar Parrikar, as opposition leader, had alleged that illegal mining was flourishing in the state and Congress leaders were involved, Naik said, "But now Parrikar is pleased to make a statement that there are no illegal mines in Goa and that no MLA, whether in the present assembly or in the immediate past assembly, are involved in illegal mining. It's a statement made to save his own partymen who are involved in illegal mining." Naik also said that the present BJP government, while pretending to be a government of commitments, "is nothing but a bundle of contradictions, arrogance and is sadistic to the core".
He claimed institutions are being destroyed in Goa and those who do not toe the government line, whether they are members of panchayats, municipalities, cooperative institutions, or sports bodies, are shown the door.
He "hoped" the government "does not impose a condition on the beneficiaries of the Laadli Laxmi scheme that they will get the assistance only if they marry the groom chosen by the BJP".