Environmentalist Claude Alvares has said that August 12 High Court judgment, which stated that Environment Clearances (EC) under 1994 notification are not valid for more than five years, has put a question mark on the operations of 54 mines in Goa.
Alvares,
secretary of Goa Foundation, has said that all these mines will have to close down and their operations are to be labeled as illegal in the wake of the judgment.
The Court had observed that ‘the clearance granted under EIA notification 1994, shall be valid for a period of five years from the commencement of construction or operation of the project’.
The division bench passed the order in a writ petition filed by Shankar Jog, a retired environmental activist who challenged the operation of an iron ore mine operated by M S Talaulikar at Sacordem on the grounds that the mine’s environment clearance, granted in 2005, had expired by 2010.
Goa Foundation has claimed that the judgment will directly impact 54 mines in the State, all of which were granted environment clearances under 1994 EIA Notification.
“All of these mines will now have to stop production and seek fresh environment clearance from Environment Ministry,” Alvares said.
He pointed out that EC period, in case of all these mines have lapsed and they cannot start the operation in October, when the next mining season begins.
Pointing to the reply in Goa assembly, Alvares stated that these mines are involved in large scale extraction of illegal ore. “They will either have to challenge the judgment in Supreme Court or will have to seek renewal of EC within next three months,” Alvares said.
The 54 mines includes Chowgules & company Ltd (5), Dempo mining group (5), V S Dempo (6), V M Salgaoncar & brothers (7) along with others, operational in three major talukas- Sanguem, Bicholim and Satari.
The new judgment comes close on the heels of orders issued by the Court in another petition filed by Goa Foundation which had challenged the operations of mines which did not have valid consents under the Air and Water Pollution Control Acts.
Pursuant to those orders, the Goa Pollution Control Board has issued orders for suspension of mining operations to 23 mining leases and sent copies to Mormugao Port Trust (MPT), Panjim Port Authority, Forest Department, Department of Mines and Geology, and Goa Foundation.
