Goa Police summons green activist Claude Alvares

Panaji, June 20 (IANS) Green activist Claude Alvares, whose petition in the Supreme Court led to the shutdown of Goa's mining industry, was on Wednesday summoned by officers of the Panaji Town Police Station in connection with an FIR filed against him.

The FIR was registered last month for symbolically locking the offices of the State Mines and Geology department in the state capital.

Alvares has now moved for anticipatory bail.

"We have summoned Alvares in connection with the FIR filed by the State Mines and Geology Director for locking the main door of the department's head office," Police Inspector Siddhant Shirodkar told reporters here.

On May 12, Alvares, who co-heads NGO Goa Foundation, had symbolically locked the office premise of the Goa Mines and Geology department in the capital city, accusing department officials of turning a blind eye towards alleged theft of iron ore by mining companies, despite directions of the Supreme Court of India, which scrapped 88 mining leases in February this year.

Following a petition by Alvares, ore extraction in all 88 operational mines in Goa was stopped by the apex court, bringing the multi-billion industry to a grinding halt.

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