Damodar Mangalji and Co revive illegal mine.

 TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: One of the State’s oldest mining company, Damodar Mangalji and Company Limited (DMC), is likely to come under the scanner of the Mines department, again, for its move to revive operations at a mine at Pissurlem, almost after a decade.

In a complaint before state authorities, a local from Amona Khemlo Sawant has said that the ripper is still working at the mine named as ‘Band Doncol’ bearing TC number 2/Fe/71.     

Sawant has said that the mine was never operated for last several years and a sudden operation amounts to illegalities.

 Sawant informed Herald that the mine owned by DMC was inspected by central government appointed Justice M B Shah Commission, which too had observed that no work was on there.

 Herald, last year, had exposed the illegalities carried out by DMC, a company owned by Gujarat businessmen at a mine owned by R S Shetye, which is now closed down.

 In its record submitted to Mines department, DMC in the past has shown  production of 3.93 lakh tones for the period of five years at ‘Band Doncol Mine’, which infact did not exist in the department’s operational mines list.

Sawant has claimed that the suspicious operation at the mining site was basically to prove the extraction of 3.93 lakh tone of ore as legal.

In a complaint filed on December 29, Sawant has demanded investigation into the sudden operation of the mine. “All the operations need to be stopped till the investigations are carried out. Department needs to find out, whether the mine has proper operational license,” he asserted.

The complainant has however accused Mines Minister Digamber Kamat and Director of Mines Department Arvind Lolienkar for providing protection to the company.

Pointing to the failure of the department, Sawant said that none of the mines officials have visited the site till date.

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Not just mines, but the jetties owned by DMC at Navelim-Maina have also been termed as illegal.

 Khemlo Sawant in a complaint to Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has mentioned about the illegal jetty operated by DMC company at Navelim-Maina in survey number 185/0.

He has demanded to withdraw the water and air consent given to these jetties, as they are operational without NOC from Navelim village panchayat and nor have they taken approval from Goa costal zone management authority.

He also stated that huge illegal dumps are seen lying at the jetty along with screening plants.