TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: At a time when the members of the State Legislative Assembly came to a common consensus over resumption of legal mining by granting leases to the traditional mine owners, former Chief Minister and Congress MLA Digambar Kamat, who has been accused of abetting illegal mining through deemed extension of leases, for the first time broke his silence claiming that the renewal of the mining leases was kept pending during his tenure since the government was busy formulating regulations for the sector.
“When the applications for second renewal of mining leases were received, somewhere in 2007 the state government was busy drafting stamp duty amendment act and deciding on the buffer zones around the wildlife sanctuaries. The delay in renewing the mining leases was basically due to some of these reason,” Kamat told the State Legislative Assembly during the discussion on mining. Kamat spoke out following accusation from the ruling benches (BJP) who pointed out that the failure of previous Congress government in renewing the leases paved the way for fly-by-night operators thus leading to massive illegalities in mining.
Kamat said that the mines which were working under deemed provision of Mineral Concession Rules should file the application for renewal at least 12 months in advance before their leases expire. “Section 24 (A) of the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960, mentions that if the application is not disposed off within the time period, it is deemed to have been extended for one year,” Kamat the former Mines Minister said, defending his government’s delay in renewing the leases.
