A day after the announcement that a State Mining Corporation will be set up to restart mining operations in the State, the verdict on the decision is still out. It was to be expected as such a decision would have its enthusiastic proponents, its cautious acceptors and determined opponents. A few mine owners fall in the first category, the Goa Mineral Ore Exporters Association in the second, and the Goan People’s Mining Front that could have been expected to fall in the this, as it has in the past opposed such a move to restart the sector, has actually welcomed the move. So, where does Goa go from here where mining is concerned?
Until this announcement was made, the government had also been considering auctioning of the leases as recommended by the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act and amendment to the Goa Daman and Diu Mining Concessions (Abolition and Conversion Leases) Act, 1987 extending the term of the lease. Quick to react to the announcement, Goa Mineral Ore Exporters Association has played it safe stating that resumption of mining operations have to be as per the prevailing laws and acts as well as in accordance with the matter before the Court. That is the most diplomatic of answers that conveys absolutely nothing.
The Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF) has welcomed it as it expects the corporation will help restore jobs that the mining dependents lost and have been suffering from the loss. For them, it is mining operations beginning at the earliest that matters. Yet, not too long ago, there had been reservations to a government-run corporation to restart mining operations. One of the reasons for this was that such a move would delay commencing mining operations as surface rights and perpetuity rights enjoyed by the mine owners would delay it, and to circumvent this, an amendment to The Goa Daman and Diu Mining Concessions (Abolition and Declaration of Mining Leases Act, 1987) would be the best option. A further point, and one that does sound valid, is that state-run corporations do not have the expertise to conduct mining activities which would result in inefficiency. Going by past experience of the loss-making government corporations that have to be bailed out by the State, the reservations of the mining affected sound reasonable.
But then past experience should not stop the government from this move. If not a mining corporation, what would be the other option? The government has over the past months spoken of considering various other means it could restart the sector. That it has now decided to opt for the corporation indicates that it has ruled out all others, and that this is the best. Yet, before assuming anything on how such a corporation will affect the sector, one would have to know the modalities of the proposal. The Chief Minister has not revealed anything on this count, despite being questioned on it by the media. So we wait.
Interestingly, the very next day, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant assured the House that the government would recover the Rs 35,000 crore loss cause by illegal mining. The assurance came in response to a question from Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai. But, in nine years since the mining illegalities were exposed, coming soon to be a decade, what has been the progress of recovery? Is it enough for the Crime Branch Special Investigation Team filing a charge-sheet before the Court against those indicted by the Shah Commission report? Or should the progress have been much more? Recovering the losses is as important as restarting operations in the sector. If the government can fast track the commencement of mining operations it can also do the same to recover the losses and act against the offenders.
