Mining issue: women take out morcha in Bicholim, demand aid from govt navhindtimes.in/?p=56953BICHOLIM: The women from the mining dependent families from Mayem, Bicholim, Piligaon, Mulgaon and Lamgaon took out a morcha in the Bicholim town, on Thursday, in support of their demand for assistance from the government to overcome the financial crisis suffered by them due to the closure of mines. The women also made a demand for early resumption of mining activity so that their families would get income and would be in a position to pay the installments of the bank loans. The morcha which moved through the lanes of the town later proceeded to Mayem MLA and Deputy Speaker Anant Shet’s Bicholim office to submit the memorandum of their demands and sought the appointment of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. The women from 20 self-help groups and mining dependent families participated in the rally. Holding placards in the hands, they shouted slogans in support of their demands. A delegation of members of mining-affected families called on Deputy Speaker Anant Shet at his Bicholim office and submitted a memorandum of their demands. The delegation urged the Deputy Speaker to forward their memorandum to the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who has assured the mining dependent people of sorting out the issue at earliest. The delegation, comprising of Sharmila Pal, Suhasini Kinalkar, Aparna Shetye, Deepika Bugade, Parvati Gawas and Sapna Gaonkar brought to the notice of the Deputy Speaker their sufferings after the closure of the mining activity. They made a demand for early resumption of Mayem mines so that their family members, who were working in Sesa company, would get employed again. The women also brought to the notice of the Deputy Speaker that they are suffering a lot of hardships in meeting the expenditure towards education of their children besides buying the essential commodities for day-to-day existence in the face of a critical financial condition. Aparan Shetye raised the issue of the financial package to barge owners, truck owners and machinery owners provided by state government and questioned the government as to why financial assistance is not being given to the mine company employees. She threatened to take to streets with their children to demand early resumption of mines in the state. Deepika Bugade said that they would come on the streets with their children to demand early resumption of mines which would provide employment to their family members whose services were discontinued. “We were hopeful that we would see better days after the BJP comes to power at Centre and are waiting for ‘achhe deen’ but till date assurances have not been fulfilled and our dream to see a problem-free life has been shattered,” she added. Members of the delegation discussed on their demands with the Deputy Speaker. Shet assured the women delegation that the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has left for Delhi and during his Delhi visit he would discuss the mining issue with the Union ministers for an early solution. Shet further expressed hope of mining activity resuming in the state in the next couple of months and assured the delegation that their grievances would be taken cognisance of by the state government. He also assured the delegation that he would seek an appointment with the Chief Minister for discussing this issue with him in detail.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 20:27:05 +0000
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