Goa: Displaced mining industry may protest Narendra Modi's visit

Panaji: Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi may be shown black flags on his arrival in Goa for a rally on 12 January.

Over 1,000 displaced workers from Goa's biggest mining company Sesa Goa would line up on roads leading to the rally venue with black flags. "The Goa government has let us down," a trade union leader Christopher Fonseca said.

"This government is keeping quiet over 1,000 workers being laid off. They are with the corporate. It is a matter of shame. Therefore, we have planned the black flags campaign," he said.

Modi is expected to address the rally in Merces, on the outskirts of Panaji.

Sesa Goa, in a statement, has confirmed the lay-off of 1,017 workers in its mining division and said the workers would be getting their full salary for 60 days.

"At present all workmen will be getting full salary until they are laid off after expiry of aforesaid period or receipt of necessary permissions and thereafter 50 percent salary will be paid," Sesa Goa said in a statement.

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"Lay off is not retrenchment and all workers continue to be on the rolls of the company," it said.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said he would not renew the leases of companies which do not look after their workers, but blamed the central government for the impasse.

Sesa Goa, Parrikar said, cannot formally execute the dismissal notices without the central government's nod.

"I will speak to the union government not to grant them (companies) permission to lay off their employees until the apex court decision on Goa mining," the chief minister said.

IANS