Panaji, April 5 (IANS): Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday hailed the resumption of mining activity in the state after a gap of nearly 12 years and termed it a "historic day".

"It's a Historic Day for Goa. I congratulate Vedanta for the commencement of mining in Bicholim (in North Goa). This has revived one of the key economic backbone of the state of Goa," CM Sawant said in a post on social media platform X.

He further said that the stakeholders, people and the state faced many hardships due to the ban on mining since 2012.

The CM also thanked the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "continued support to resolve the issue".

"With the consistent efforts of our government, we carried out a transparent process to auction the mining blocks in the state. With this many stakeholders shall benefit to create employment and the state shall benefit with the enhanced revenue," he said.

"The increased revenues to the state shall lead to enhanced ability of the state to invest more in welfare schemes, infrastructure development in the state, and take the state towards Viksit Goa," CM Sawant added.