TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: With just a little over a week left for the tabling of the State’s 2015-16 Budget, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Monday said the drafting of the Budget is not possible without considering revenue from the iron ore mining industry.
The ninth session of the State Legislative Assembly is scheduled from March 23, with Parsekar, who is Finance Minister, set to present his first Budget on March 25.
Addressing the media on Monday, the Chief Minister said that government doesn’t want to table the Budget without the MoEF revoking the suspension on ECs of mining leases.
“I spoke to the minister (MoEF Prakash Javadekar). I told him that it is high time that the suspension of ECs be revoked. We have completed all formalities required from our side,” Parsekar said. “I have told him that I don’t want to table the Budget without revoking suspension on ECs. We want to consider the revenue from the mining industry, without that, the Budget is not possible.”
Parsekar expressed hope that the suspension will be revoked ‘at any time’. “The letter can come any time. We are waiting for it,” he said. Following Supreme Court directives, a detailed lease-wise cap of iron ore annual production has been submitted to the MoEF, he said.
The annual ore production limit has been set at 20 million tonnes by the Apex Court-appointed capping committee.
Former MoEF minister Jayanti Natarajan had suspended ECs of 139 mining leases in 2012, following State government’s suspension of mining activities on September 11, 2012. Government in January lifted its suspension and accordingly renewed 89 mining leases.
