The timing was politically perfect, as was the setting. On the eve of the Zilla Panchayat polls, and accompanied by the BJP MLAs representing the mining areas, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar announced that the suspension of Environmental Clearances of 72 mines had been revoked by the Union Minister of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
After facing flak for months over the delay in resuming mining operations in the State, the BJP government couldn’t have sought a better day on which to announce that the last hurdle in the path of commencing operations had been cleared. Whether the announcement boosted their prospects in the constituencies situated in the mining areas will be known on Friday when the votes are counted and the results are declared, but the presence of the three party MLAs representing the mining areas cannot be overlooked.
And so the announcement that all decks to restart mining operations in the State have been cleared, brought cheer not just to the mining industry whose machinery had remained silent for two and a half years, but gave the ruling politicians bragging rights too. A fact not lost on the opposition Congress that immediately threatened to complain to the State Election Commission on the timing of the announcement.
Keeping aside the political aspect, there are, however, other relevant questions that can be posed in connection with this announcement.
If it was that simple to revoke the suspension – just a decision from the MoEF – why did the ministry wait two months after the Goa government lifted its ban before taking the decision? This question is especially relevant as just about a month ago Union Environment and Forests minister Prakash Javadekar, writing to the State, had said that that suspension of ECs cannot be revoked so fresh ECs would be granted to the leases that had been renewed and that the ECs would be granted after studying the capping committee report that would be submitted to the Supreme Court in April. A fresh EC would mandate a fresh Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) that would further delay the starting of mining operations by a few months if not by a couple of years. The change in reasoning by the MoEF has come without any plausible explanation, which leaves the decision open to a legal challenge.
Besides this, there exists the Madhav Gadgil report, commissioned by the Goa government, on EIAs and ECs that explicitly states that ECs should not be granted once and for all but should be reviewed periodically, for instance every five years. The report also indicted the government and mining lease holders of “getting legally mandated clearances as quickly and with little effort or involvement of the society at large as possible”.
That being so, if mining operations resume with the old ECs, the industry will be restarting with ECs that are questionable. The 30-month break in mining operations should have been employed by the government to streamline the industry. This has not been done, so can we expect the illegalities in the mining industry, for which operations were halted, to restart? What is the mechanism in place to ensure that the extraction of ore will be monitored?
There is a cap on extraction but this limit, effectively half of what the industry was mining earlier, places a grey cloud over the economics of the industry. The State has renewed 89 mining leases, but MoEF has revoked suspension of ECs of 72 leases. If all 72 mining leases are allowed to start operations at the same time, as promised by the government, how will the 20 million tonnes cap on extraction be equitably distributed among the mines so that the extraction is profitable? Earlier about 42 to 50 million tonnes were extracted annually. It may not make financial sense for the mining industry to begin operations on all the leases as there would not be enough of ore for all to extract from and earn from it.
And the miners in Goa are aware of this for the industry was guarded in reacting to the revocation of the suspension and said it would not be possible to start operations unless the export duty was abolished. Goa’s low grade ore has major competition from other countries whose ore is richer in iron content, and the State having been out of the market for the past two and a half years would have to re-establish itself as a committed supplier. The State has promised to take up this demand of the mining industry with the Centre. So effectively the mining industry gets back into business with sops, the politicians take credit for getting this done and earn votes, and the environment… spare it a thought.
