02 Dec 2020  |   04:54am IST

No easy decision in restarting mining

No easy decision in restarting mining

The sudden spurt in activity to resume mining, with the flurry of meetings between Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and Union ministers, followed by a meeting with the mining sector in Goa, indicates that the government is finally arriving at a decision on resolving the mining imbroglio. As announced by the Chief Minister, there are three options before the government. That, however, is not a new revelation. The same options have been there since February 2018, when the Supreme Court set aside the second renewal of the mining leases granted by the State of Goa. In fact, the Supreme Court had precisely directed the government to ‘take all necessary steps to grant fresh mining leases in accordance with the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957’. This, essentially means auction of leases. 

The three options that the State government is speaking of include auction of leases, besides an amendment to the Goa, Daman and Diu (Abolition and Declaration of Mining Leases) Act (Abolition Act), 1987 and forming a mining corporation that will bring mining under government control. Why is the government taking so long to decide on the best option? Auction is mandated under the MMDR Act, forming a mining corporation has been backed by Goa Foundation, while the amendment to the Abolition Act will be the toughest, and possibly could be challenged in court. It, therefore would be reasonable to opt for the auction or the corporation. 

Interestingly, the Chief Minister said his concern is not the mine owners but the people dependent on mining. In similar manner, the government should also be concerned about recovering the mining losses that run into thousands of crores. Pertinently, this has been directed by the Supreme Court in its February 2018 order, wherein it stated that Goa should take steps to ensure that the Special Investigation Team and the team of Chartered Accountants give their report and the State implement the reports at the earliest, unless there are ‘very good reasons for rejecting them’. The order had also stated that Goa should take steps to expedite ‘recovery of the amounts said to be due from the mining lease holders pursuant to the show cause notices issued to them and pursuant to other reports available with the State of Goa including the report of Special Investigation Team and the team of Chartered Accountants’.

Yet, almost 20 months since that order from the Supreme Court, little has been done in the State to expedite the recovery of the losses. In fact, the recovery should have started in 2012, when the Shah Commission report was made public and led to the stoppage of mining operations in the State. Since then, the amount recovered is a paltry Rs 3.99 crore from three mining companies, when the losses run into thousands of crores and involves many companies. The will to hold the companies liable for the losses and make them pay is missing. Instead, if the government succeeds in getting the amendment to the abolition act, then many of the firms that have been involved in illegalities may be back in the mining business. 

Any decision on restarting mining operations must take into consideration, besides the recovery of the losses, the environmental costs. Goa is currently in a battle to save the Mollem forest, and all mining activity is concentrated along the eastern side of Goa, that is densely forested. It was environmental concerns that first jolted the mining sector in Goa and the illegalities in mining extraction came much later. The government may be finding it difficult at the moment to come to a decision on starting mining, but it can be sure that whatever decision it takes it will have to defend to the sector, to the people and, who knows, perhaps even in court.


IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar