TEAM HERALD
PANJIM :Following an uproar by the iron ore mining industry players after the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) refused to revoke the suspension of the environment clearances (ECs) of leases, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar will call on the central government to expedite the process for new ECs.
Sources indicate that in the first phase, the government is pushing for a restart of 10 mining leases and trying to facilitate ECs from MoEF. The industry has been closed for the past 28 months.
The attempt itself is surprising since the MoEF stand in its communication to the Goa government – which indeed has been made and confirmed at the highest levels of bureaucracy and government – has specifically quoted the Supreme Court order in writ petition 435, stating that fresh environment clearances have to be issued. The MoEF, according to ministry sources Herald spoke to, is not at all inclined to renew leases on a case by case basis, when several inquiries and investigations are pending with regarding to irregularities and illegalities of the leases.
Parsekar is leaving for New Delhi on February 7 to attend the first meeting of the governing council of Niti Aayog, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The meeting is scheduled on Sunday – February 8.
Parsekar, who was supposed to return to Goa on Monday after his two day visit, has extended his visit by a day. During that time he would be meeting the Union Minister for Mines Narendra Singh Tomar and MoEF Minister Prakash Javadekar with a request to expedite the process so that mining activity can be resumed as soon as possible.
“I have extended my visit to Delhi by a day. I will be meeting the Union mines minister and the MoEF minister to further press for immediate resumption of the mining activities in the state,” the chief minister told Herald. He added, “The ministry would be informed about state government lifting the temporary mining suspension imposed on September 10, 2012”. (The state government’s suspension was lifted on January 15.)
When asked whether any communication was received from the MoEF refusing to revoke the suspension on ECs, the chief minister did not comment. “I am meeting Javadekarji on Monday on the EC issue,” he, however, said.
Parsekar, who is also the state mines minister, said that the government is looking to restart mining activities in a phased manner, and that on the immediate front they want at least 10 mining leases to resume operations. “We have renewed over 80 mining leases, but it is not possible to resume all at one go. We will have to do so in a phased manner, with proper guidelines from the Union government,” he said.
As reported by Herald, MoEF had turned down the state government proposal to revoke the suspension on the ECs stating that it would grant fresh ECs to the renewed mining leases, on a case to case basis. The ministry has also clarified that the ECs would be granted after studying the six-member capping committee report which would be submitted to Supreme Court in April.
The ministry had on September 12, 2012 suspended the ECs of 139 mines in Goa.
The government has renewed 88 mining lease under section 8(3) of the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act. Of these, lease deed agreements in case of 42 renewed mining leases have been signed.
