Two year long road to clean mining
For those waiting to see mining trucks on the slopes of mining pits, the surge of a workforce waiting to get to work and barges to set sail and beneficiation plants, giving ore grades the right mix for export, the three judge bench of the Supreme Court, has shut the stable gates before a single horse can bolt. For a barge can sail or a truck can move and so on.
And in doing so, the Apex Court has signed a death warrant of Goa’s now banned mining industry, by simply emphasizing this. There is no mining industry is Goa as of today – good, bad or ugly. In fact it has actually said that all mining post November 20, 2007 is illegal because even in a gracious situation, the 20 year period after the deemed renewal of leases expired on that day.
The headline is not that the ban on mining has been lifted. What the order really is all about is that all mining that was banned by it is a finality. And it means that, those mining leases, which stopped working vide that order, (around 94 of them) cannot restart. They do not exist.
So what the Apex Court has really done is uphold the basic contention of the petitioners Goa Foundation that each and every working lease in Goa at that time was illegal. And that holds, by the order of April 21.
The bitter truth of this order is that every-one, especially the mining giants, will have to face the tag of being illegal miners, by the letter of this order.
Of course, shades of grey always play a part even in black and white truths and the grey here is that the complete arrogance of the state government that mining was their domain and under their control, allowed industry players the comfort of a cosy bonhomie that skirted the law and as today’s order says, was totally devoid of law.
Therefore the state is as much a guilty party if not a much bigger guilty party that even major mining companies for allowing this mal governance of mining to happen, even as it went to bed with mining majors.
But this act assumes criminal proportions when the lives and livelihood of five lakh people are at stake, And while relationships at the top kept the industry running, so many lives were shaped and made out of the profits of the mining industry. Lives that are ruined today. This, as we emphasize again, arrogance of the government that law was what they defined has made the wait for resumption even longer.
Yet there are silver linings and a big hope. Illegal mining has been banned forever. And “sustainable” and “legal” mining will be allowed on the bedrock of three pillars. Mining will be Monitored, Capped and Unambiguous
Monitored: by the Directorate of Mining and Geology, the MOEf and the Goa pollution control board
Capped: Till the final report is submitted by the Expert Committee the maximum mining should not exceed 20 million excluding dumps.
Unambiguous: the State Government to decide as a matter of policy in what manner the leases of these mineral resources would be granted, but this decision has to be taken in accordance with the provisions of the MMDR Act and the Rules made there under and in consonance with the constitutional provisions and the decision taken by the State of Goa
What will happen is this. All players will have to get back to the drawing board and start from scratch and get leases and EC clearances. And till that happens the ban of the state government and the suspension of EC licenses, holds. The cumulative process can take as much as two years.
However, it is the best order under the circumstances because the new age of mining will be legal in every sense. And funds from the e auction will pay half the dues of workers with 10 % of proceeds going into an iron ore fund for sustainable mining.
The night has gotten longer for Goa’s mining. But the expected daylight is much stronger. The challenge though will be to manage the emotions and frustrations of mining affected people who may not quite have the patience of arm chair experts and activists. The painful human cost of this has to be borne. But for the first time, we know that it will be worth it.
