PANJIM: While Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s ambitious March Budget for 2012-13, held out a major promise to boost agriculture through mechanized farming, talukas of Sanguem, Quepem, Sattari and Bicholim are witnessing its slow death with the onslaught of mining.

Now there appear to be little hope for the growth of agriculture in these four talukas where it was once the mainstay. The talukas constitute 67 per cent of state’s geographical area, but sustained devastation has ensured that their green topography has disappeared due to the assault from mining activities.