Goa firms get show cause for pollution

Panaji, Aug 8 (IANS) Top mining companies in Goa have been issued show cause notice by the state government for dumping mining rejects and polluting water bodies.

The offending companies include Vedanta Resources subsidiary Sesa Goa Ltd (SGL) and Sociedade de Fomento Industries (SFI), according to government data.

In a written reply tabled Wednesday in the Goa assembly, Water Resources Minister Dayanand Mandrekar said there were 62 instances of water bodies like lakes, rivers and canals being polluted by mining rejects.

SGL has been issued show cause notice for 11 instances of dumping of mining rejects in water bodies.

Chowgule and Co has been hauled up for eight instances of dumping of rejects, while SFI has been has been issued notice for four infringements.

Another mining company, V.M. Salgaonkar and Co, has been issued notices for six instances of dumping rejects in fresh water bodies.

Dumping of iron ore mining rejects is taking its toll on Goa's water resources.

According to a Public Works Department study, the manganese content in Goa's major water body, Selaulim reservoir, has gone up sixfold because of the rain-induced run off.

The Selaulim reservoir, 50 km from here, provides nearly 180 million tons of water every day to half of Goa's 14 lakh odd population.

Goa exports nearly 50 million tons of ore, sourced from 90 odd mines.