TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: While admitting that the government had not named anybody in the complaint made to the Lokayukta on illegal mining, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said that his government was in the process of deciding about the future of the High Level Committee headed by Justice (retd) R M S Khandeparkar which was also appointed to investigate into the illegal mining case. The decision would be taken within a week, he informed.
Speaking to media on Monday, Parrikar said that government had filed a complaint with the Lokayukta related to illegal mining in the state and requested the ombudsman to investigate into the financial losses resulting from this scam and also probe all those involved in the case.
“We have handed over the mining cases to Lokayukta and Crime Branch. We have not named any one. Let them identify the culprits. We will abide by the recommendations of both the authorities. Wherever required chargesheet would be filed,” Chief Minister said.
Responding to a question, Parrikar, who holds the Mines portfolio, said ‘government would be shortly taking a decision on the Khandeparkar committee, whether we should continue with it or scrap it…we will inform the media within one weeks time’.
The tenure of the committee, appointed in October and notified in November 2012, is also set to lapse in November 2013. It is interesting to note that even after almost one year, the committee did not even have a single meeting and is at the moment functioning from the office of the State Police Complaints Authority where Justice (retd) Khandeparkar is the chairman.
The committee is also supposed to indicate the names of people involved in illegalities and to quantify the amount of illegality. It was also asked to suggest measures for effective control, supervision and regulation of the mining industry.
