PANJIM: Claiming that countries rich in iron ore mining have started interfering in Goa’s mining industry through funding, Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF) on Monday has demanded with the state government to throughly investigate the source of income of NGO Goa Foundation.
Activist Claude Alvares’s NGO Goa Foundation petition in the Supreme Court had led to the closure of mining in the state.
Addressing the media, GMPF President Puti Goankar said, “We have decided to launch a protest against Goa Foundations director Claude Alvares. He is the main person responsible for displacing the livelihood of three lakh people, who are dependent on the mining industry.”
“Alvares is responsible for working against the interest of people of Goa. “He has some vested interest and hence working against State interest,” Goankar alleged.
Further Gaonkar also claimed that iron ore rich countries like Australia, who have captured Goa’s low grade ore international market, are funding NGOs to work against Goa mining.
Meanwhile, GMPF also urged an all our scathing attack on Alvares while demanding that state government should investigate into the source of income of NGO Goa Foundation.
“I urge Chief Minister to investigate the source of income of Alvares. We want to know, from where he is getting money to file cases in Supreme Court and to hire such high-profile lawyers.”
It can be recalled that NGO Goa Foundation Director Claude Alvares had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding that mining leases in Goa be auctioned and that State Government’s failure to recover Rs 3, 431 crore from erring mining firms.