TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Eleven jetties owned by Sesa Sterlite Ltd and V M Salgaocar have been granted consent to operate on March 14 for loading of ore by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB).
The Consent will be valid till May 31.
Sesa Sterlite Ltd have applied for reviving the consent at its six jetties-Surla, Kharnamol, Amona, Sarmanas, Sanvordem and Sinori, while Salgaoncar have applied for Consent to Operate from five jetties including two at Vagus.
The consent has been granted only for loading the e-auctioned iron ore.
Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG) has already e-auctioned approximately 1.7 million metric tons of ore in last one month.
Speaking to Herald, GSPCB Chairman Jose Manual Noronha confirmed that Consent to Operate has been granted to 11 barge loading jetties, especially for loading the e-auctioned ore.
The Consent is granted under Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981 and Renewal of Authorization under the Hazardous waste (Management, handling and Transboundary movement) Rule 2008.
Noronha said that the consents were granted after conducting inspecting the jetties.
In the first and second e-auction, conducted on February 17 and March 5 respectively, DMG had offered 4.90 lakh ore lying at Vagus, Sarmanas and Amona jetties of which 4.87 lakh ore is already been sold out.
Total ore auctioned from the Amona jetty was 94,509, Vagus 1,92,850 and Sarmanas 1,30,395. The ore was purchased by Sesa Sterlite, V M Salgaocar, Agarwal mining companies (Goa), Kineta Global (Andhra Pradesh), Sudar Industries Ltd and Royalline Resources Ltd (Maharashtra) and Bagadiya Ltd (Chhattisgarh).
Following Supreme Court directions to suspend mining operations in the State, GSPCB in December 2012 had refused to renew operating consent to 10 mining leases under Air and Water act. The consent to operate under these Acts had expired on July 31, 2012.
Meanwhile, Mines department official confirmed that not a single barge owner has registered with them expressing willingness to transport the e-auctioned ore. The last date for making submission for transportation was on Friday, March 21. The department has already issued NOCs to the successful bidders.
