TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Herald report ~ ‘Mines Department issues NOC to firm for exporting ore’ ~ which appeared in these columns on Friday has ruffled feathers. Reacting to the report, which included reactions of civil society representatives and activists, the mines department has opined that mining operations are banned only in/from leases named by the Shah Commission and that the Supreme Court order in no way bans import of ore (ostensibly) extracted outside Goa or India into the State, nor does it prohibit transportation of such imported ore and export of such ore through the State. Obviously, this is apropos the opinions of the activists spoken to; our report that the NOC had indeed been issued has been entirely validated by the “clarification”.
Government: A totally misleading report pertaining to the Department of Mines and Geology was unfortunately headlined in the Herald dated 10th January 2013. The report alleged that the NOC granted by the Department of Mines and Geology to export ore amounted to contempt of the Hon’ble Supreme Court order dated 5th October 2012 in Writ Petition filed by the Goa Foundation against the Government of India and Government of Goa.
Herald: There was nothing misleading about either the report or the headline. The report pertained to the FACT that the NOC was issued and it REPORTED the questions raised about that decision by activists and concerned citizens and activists. Nothing more, nothing less. If the government wishes to first invent and then attack imaginary ghosts, that is its problem.
**Government**: The relevant portion of the said order is as follows: “Till further orders, all mining operations in the leases identified in the Shah Commission Report and transportation of iron ore and manganese ore from those leases, whether lying at the mine head or stockyards shall remain suspended as recommended in the Shah Commission Report.” (Government interpretation): The order therefore implies that mining operations in the leases identified by the Shah Commission Report are banned and also transportation of ore from these leases, whether stored at the mine head or stockyard be prohibited.
The order, in no way, bans import of ore from outside the State of Goa or the country, nor does it prohibit transportation of such imported ore and export of such ore from outside the State of Goa.
**Herald**: We reported the reaction of civil society activists to the fact of the NOC having been issued by the Goa Government. All of them opined it was for the Apex Court to decide whether ore ostensibly extracted outside the State is allowed to be imported into, transported through, and exported out of Goa or not.
**Government**: The Department of Mines issued a NOC to a firm to export **only** (emphasis ours) 72,000 metric tons of ore ostensibly extracted from a mine in Maharashtra. The said company has been exporting ore from Maharashtra through Goa for the last two years and hence the NOC was issued to facilitate the company to complete the paper work for export, with a condition that the company should obtain an export permit from the Department before exporting the same.
**Herald**: That the NOC was issued after transport cess was paid to the Goa Government is exactly what the Herald report stated.
**Government**: The petitioner in the Writ Petition before the Hon’ble Supreme Court has been quoted stating that the NOC “is ipso contempt of Supreme Court orders”. It is indeed ironic that the petitioner Dr Claude Alvares despite knowing the facts of the case and the order of the court resorted to speaking to the media instead of bringing to the notice of the court the alleged contempt if it exists.
**Herald**: Both Dr Alvares and Government are entitled to their opinions. We live in a democracy and Freedom of Speech is enshrined in the Constitution under section 19 (1). Dr Alvares, incidentally, is a highly respected expert on the subject of illegal mining in Goa and has had spent years painstakingly and often against the odds unearthing the sordid underbelly of illegal mining in the State. The Herald report makes no comment on any alleged contempt.
**Government**: The opinions expressed by activists in the said report are evidently made without knowing the true facts of the matter or the contents of the Supreme Court order.
