Panaji, Dec 7 (PTI) Sarpanches from around 20 village panchayats have written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in resumption of operations at iron ore mines which are shut for nearly four years now, citing adverse impact on livelihood of people dependent on the sector.The iron ore mining industry in Goa is stalled since early 2018 when the Supreme Court quashed 88 leases, bringing the key sector virtually to a halt.With no immediate solution to the deadlock in sight, sarpanches (village heads) from Goa"s mining belt have come together and urged the PM to save the livelihood of people.The letter, written on November 18 to the Prime Minister"s Office (PMO), was made public on Tuesday by a group of village heads.“We represent people from various village panchayats covering almost five lakh population from the rural and marginalised sections of Goa, who are in situation of no means of livelihood for the last ten years as the mining industry in the state has been completely destroyed,” the letter said, apparently referring to the first mining ban which came in 2012 owing to alleged illegalities in the sector.The sarpanches, who represent village panchayats of Rivona, Bhati, Xeldem, Curdi, Uguem in South Goa besides others, said their representations in the past to various authorities to restart iron ore mines have fallen on deaf ears.“We have made representations to various authorities about our state of absolute helplessness and despair. Since the year 2018, we along with various other village panchayat bodies have been liasoning with the state government as well as with mining stakeholders to help us in providing employment through resumption of the industry,” the letter said.The village heads said they have exhausted all their resources and can no longer endure this misery.“The situation has further worsened due to the current pandemic,” said the letter.The top court in February 2018 had quashed the second renewal of iron ore mining leases given to as many as 88 companies in Goa in 2015 and directed the Centre and the state government to grant fresh environmental clearances to them. PTI RPS RSY RSY