PANJIM: Almost nine months after notifying Goa Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC)-through which all the iron ore mining activities would be undertaken henceforth, the rules for the functioning of the Corporation headed by the Chief Minister are not yet finalised. Moreover, the Board of Directors is also yet to be appointed.
The Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG) had in December drafted and finalised the draft rules for the functioning of GMDC and accordingly were sent to the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and Law Department for vetting.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
The Chief Minister is the chairman of the corporation with MLAs representing mining belt constituencies as its members.
A senior official confirmed that the Board of Directors has to be formed first to make the corporation function. Official also said that the rules are yet to be notified.
The Bill to pave way for the Corporation formation was passed in the House on July 30, 2021. It was later sent for Governor’s assent on September 1, 2021, following which the Corporation was notified in the Official Gazette.
The State government earlier this week initiated the process to take possession of the 88 iron ore leases by granting them a month time, till June 6, to remove all the machinery and equipment from the leasehold area. The DMG has asked all leaseholders, whose leases were quashed by the Supreme Court, to comply with the provisions of Rule 12 (1) (hh) of the Mineral Concessions Rules, 2016 within a period of one month with effect from May 6.
The Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL) is yet to submit the Geological Survey Report (GSR). In its preliminary report, MECL has identified five iron ore mining blocks, having approximately 25 million tonnes of ore reserves for auction. The agency is expected to take another two-three months to complete the process.
The iron ore mining activities in the State came to halt in March 2018 after the Supreme Court quashed the second renewals granted to 88 leases. On September 7, last year, the Court dismissed an appeal filed by the mining companies to allow them to operate leases till 2037.
