Mining business has been banned in the State for the last many years and the people are awaiting for it to restart. However, the reason behind its ban has not yet been completely resolved. The opposition cornered the government on this issue at the recent Assembly session on Wednesday. Alleging that there is a scam of Rs 35,000 crore in the mining business, the then opposition party of BJP capitalised on the issue and dethroned the Digambar Kamat government in the 2012 state elections. When the matter came up for discussion in the Assembly on Wednesday, the opposition kept the government on its toes as they persistently demanded to know the exact figure of the losses incurred on account of illegal mining activities.
As per the information provided by the government, they have recovered Rs 80 crore, while Rs 271 crore was yet to be recovered. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told the House that 42 mining companies have been issued notices to pay the pending dues to the government. However, it is not clear whether this amount is recovered from the alleged scam or some other dues. Then, we are left with the question of where does the Rs 35,000 crore figure come from? Late Manohar Parrikar was Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) when he was the leader of the Opposition and this figure was brought by him in the PAC report. This report was never accepted, but based on this figure, Parrikar and BJP constantly targeted the Kamat-led government. Interestingly, Parrikar never mentioned this figure again when his party came to power. In fact, he claimed the amount to be less than Rs 35,000 crore. The Parrikar-led government then shut down the mines to study the papers of the mining business which was followed by a ban order from the Central government on the account of environmental certificates. The mines were supposed to be auctioned as per the new Mineral (Auction) Rules 2015, but the State government, mining companies and the locals dependent on the mining business were not in favour of the new rules. Hence, the new rules were never implemented. The people involved in the mining business approached the Centre multiple times and requested for relaxation of the laws for them. Their major demand was that they be allowed to run the mining business as per the old rules. The Centre too kept them hanging. The people tried it all – be it memorandums, requests, protests and appeals, but nothing worked. It’s been more than 11 years since the mines were shut down and have not resumed yet. Of course, the state government was left with no other alternative than to e-auction the blocks and the procedure has begun. However, the Opposition has accused the government of lack of transparency in the process. They pointed out that certain companies who are defaulters have been granted bidding privileges. They questioned the government’s decision to grant bidding privileges to those who already owe the government a substantial amount. The Opposition’s question is justifiable, but one thing that has to be noted here is that if the mines are allowed to be run by the ones who handled them earlier, then it saves a lot of trouble. The people who were working on the mines before do not face problems and there is relative ease in operations due to the familiarity factor. So, it is not an issue if the defaulters are allowed to participate in the procedure; however, the amount they owe should be recovered. The Chief Minister too answered in a similar manner. “We are stressing on starting the mining operations in a sustainable manner by keeping in mind the best interests of those who are dependent on mining. The old companies have been allowed to participate in the bidding process as the company workers and locals share old relations. This decision is in the good interest of the people and the successful bidders have been directed to give preference to employ locals in the jobs,” said the CM.
It is no secret that the government always wanted old mining owners to reclaim the blocks and that is why the process to resume mining operations was intentionally delayed. They have achieved their goal. However, all is not well, as the government is in the midst of a process to resume the mines. There are questions which need to be resolved. The farmers from mining areas have expressed suspicion on the government’s intentions as impact assessment reports on Mulgao, Mayem, Shirgao, Lamgaon, Borda and Bicholim have not been made clear. The farmers have questioned the future of temples and houses which are in mining areas. The delegation of farmers shed light on this when they spoke to the media at Azad Maidan in Panaji. They have asked the government to be transparent with them. The government should listen to them and come clean regarding the actual situation.
