TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The heavy monsoon showers through July have halted the differential global positioning system (DGPS) survey of the mines. The survey was being carried out to identify the boundaries of the state’s forests, protected areas of wildlife sanctuaries and the national park. The Directorate of Mines and Geology has said that the mapping would now be completed only after monsoon.
The delay in the completion of survey is likely to delay issuing of environment clearances to mines. The DMG survey was in view of the expert appraisal committee (EAC) meeting for clearing environment clearances (EC) which had been suspended in October 2012, following the tabling of the Shah Commission report on illegal mining in Goa.
The Mines department, which has so far completed survey of 54 mining leases of the total 118, has submitted the report to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), which stated that only one mine, so far falls within a wildlife sanctuary.
Mining official said that the mine falls within Mhadei wildlife sanctuary in Gavane village of Sattari taluka. The particular mining lease has not been operational for long.
“There are a total of 118 working mining leases in the state. We could survey only 54 of them before the work was halted due to incessant rains,” an official said.
The survey also indicated that there are 49 mines within 10 kms of state wildlife sanctuaries, while four are situated over 10 kms away.
Mining operations in Goa were suspended after Supreme Court imposed an ad interim ban.
