Villagers want panel of experts to assess damage by mining

MUMBAI: Taking heart from TOI's campaign against illegal mining in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra, residents of Kalane village in the coastal district, who have been battling a mining firm for the past two years, have demanded a neutral panel of experts to assess the environmental damage and the alleged irregularities by the firm.
According to Vaishali Patil of the Konkan Vinashkari Prakalp Samiti, who has been leading the struggle, the silt and dust from the open-cast iron ore mine have polluted Kalane river and are also destroying farmers` fields where they grow cashew nut, mango, banana, paddy and vegetables.
Neighbouring Goa has a water supply scheme on Kalane river downstream, but the MPCB calls it a stream, she said.
Patil said that the MPCB quietly surveyed the village on August 15, 2008, without informing the villagers. "Although the river originates from the dense forests in the hills around the village and flows past the mine, MPCB maps show it far away from the mine," said Patil. The forests in and around Kalane are part of the elephant corridor which extends from the portion of the Western Ghats in Karanataka. In May 2008, a herd of wild elephants destroyed crops and injured a resident of Kalani, Janu Kharawat, who later succumbed to his injuries. Villagers received compensation from the government.
Patil wonders how permission for mining could be given in an area abutting a reserve forest. "There is no buffer zone between the mine and the forest. The boundary of the mine itself has not been demarcated," she said. Minerals and Metals Pvt Ltd, the mining firm in question, got a 20-year lease on 32.25 hectares of March 16 last year and started digging in September 2009. Figures obtained by activists using the RTI Act show that the firm`s shipping bill from Redi port nearby was Rs 80 crore last year. Patil has also obtained through RTI that 80% of the trucks carrying iron ore were overloaded.
Since the Kalane mine is classified as small, permission for it was given by the state. Hence the 1,200 residents of Kalane have written to Sachin Ahir, who holds the mines portfolio, to appoint a neutral committee. According to Patil, the public notice for mining was given in a small obscure advertisement. By the time the villagers learnt of it, the date for appealing against it was over. "The public hearing for the mining project itself was a farce with goons sent by a local political leader openly shouting slogans in favour of the project, hurling chairs and heckling the villagers. As if this was not bad, the minutes of the meeting, which are supposed to be read out immediately, were given to the villagers after 56 days," said Patil. "The Kalane residents` struggle against mining is crucial to the interests of the other villages nearby who are also facing mining projects."