India, Jan. 11 -- New Delhi: Miners in Goa, out of job and cash for nearly two years, are on the verge of a total collapse and heading for a possible civil unrest, say reports reaching the national capital.

An estimated 300,000 miners are without salaries ever since the Supreme Court shut down iron ore mining in the coastal state. Another 100,000 people involved in ancillary business have been severely impacted. Mining was the largest employment generator in Goa.

"We are looking at a very bleak, very uncertain future," Nilesh Cabral, minister in the Goa government, told this reporter in an interview.

Cabral said he feared unrest among the miners, who were without jobs for almost 22 months. "They have been very, very patient but you can...