Goa government to provide aid to villages hit by mining closure

PANAJI: Goa government has decided to provide financial assistance to those village panchayats in the state that witnessed a drop in their revenues due to closure of mining industry around three years back.

"The state government has decided to provide financial assistance to mining-affected village panchayats by granting them one-time grant-in-aid," reads the explanatory memorandum on state budget tabled in the House today.

The panchayats would be given grant of Rs five lakh each, the document reads.

The grant-in-aid is provided to empower local bodies to tide over the financial crisis due to halting of mining, the government said.

The Supreme Court has banned mining in Goa since September 2012 after Justice M B Shah Commission pointed out to the illegalities in the industry. The ban has severely dented the revenues of several village panchayats in the state.

The scheme is in the formulation stage, the government said and added that "the budget estimates for the year 2015-16 is Rs 150 lakh."

Besides, the government has also decided to give Rs one lakh for each panchayat.

Meanwhile, the government also proposed to abolish House Tax for the people living below poverty line.

"In lieu of the exemption of the house tax, grants will be sanctioned to those village panchayats in proportion to the house tax assessment made by the village panchayat of BPL beneficiaries during the previous year," the document said.

It also mentions that the state government has increased the annual grants to zilla panchayats from existing Rs 2.5 crore to Rs five crore.