The DESPICABLE illegal mining HORROR of India

Some residents of mining-affected communities told Human Rights Watch they worried that dust emissions from passing ore trucks could be linked to respiratory disease in their communities.

"People are getting breathing problems," one farmer complained. Hundreds of heavily laden ore trucks pass through narrow roads leading through those communities every day, spewing clouds iron-rich dust as they pass. According to residents, the dust settles in thick coats on the crops that stand in nearby fields, on homes, and even on a schoolhouse that sits adjacent to the road.

Some communities in Goa resort to making use of surface water for at least part of the year because their groundwater supplies have been damaged or destroyed by nearby mining operations.

Water and agriculture

People living in and around two south Goa villages visited by Human Rights Watch --Rivona and Caurem -- complained that adjacent mines have polluted nearby rivers and streams through irresponsible waste disposal and that natural springs used to irrigate fields have been destroyed as mines puncture the water table and damage aquifers.

"Because of water pollution, there is no water for agriculture," said farmer and anti-mining activist Rama Velip. "Some wells are dry. Some spring water is destroyed."

Most mines in Goa operate below the water table, and many are forced to continually pump out vast quantities of water in order to keep mine pits dry.

Often, mine operators simply discard the water rather than reinject it into the ground to help regenerate the resource.

Many of these claims are impossible to verify because sufficient data does not exist?and that is part of the problem. Public officials have done nothing to study alleged harms caused by the cumulative impact of mining operations in south Goa, and do not know how many mine operators are engaged in irresponsible and illegal practices that could bring about such harm. The data that does exist, however, is troubling.

Threats and violence

There have been occasional reports of violence and direct threats against anti-mining activists in Goa. Nilesh Gaukar, a resident of Caurem village who helped organise local anti-mining protests in 2011, told Human Rights Watch that he received an anonymous phone call in early May warning him that 'mine owners and contractors' were planning to attack him.

On May 12, as he alighted from a public bus at the nearby industrial estate where he worked, a man wielding an iron bar attacked him:

I got off the bus and as I was going to the gate someone hit me with an iron rod. Ten or 15 people were around (but) he got away on a motorcycle -- one person was waiting there on the bike. I saw him get on the bike and flee. He tried to get me on the head but only got me on the shoulder and elbow.

Gaukar spent four days in the hospital and when he returned home, police officials in Quepem provided him with a 24-hour police guard. No one was arrested.

Another prominent local voice against mining, Cheryl DeSousa, told Human Rights Watch that she has suffered a long string of phone calls threatening violence against her and her daughter in extremely graphic terms.

DeSouza owns more than 200 acres of farmland in the heart of south Goa's iron mining belt and has participated in anti-mining protests by nearby villagers.

DeSousa says that she has been approached with highly lucrative offers to buy her land but has consistently refused, partly because her late husband is buried there. She told Human Rights Watch that because of her refusal to sell, she has received numerous threatening phone calls from anonymous callers.

Dhe said that some have threatened to gang rape her teenage daughter and throw acid on her face. "They also told me that my problem is that I haven't had a man in so long, and they will fix that." She did not file a complaint with the police, describing that as a 'waste of time'.

An illegal mining operation. Picture only for representation

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