PANJIM: The government-appointed chartered accountants (CAs) have unearthed only Rs 1,000 crore loss to the State after conducting a comprehensive audit of the iron ore mining leaseholders and traders, involved in the business when the industry was at its peak in 2007. This is peanuts compared to the RS 35,000 crore estimates of the Shah Commission’s findings on mining illegalities in the State.
Interestingly the government is looking into lease violations identified by the Shah Commission under Section 37 of the Mineral Concession Rules but not accepting the total estimate of the illegal mining loss by the same Shah Commission.
In addition, CAG had pointed out Rs 1,900 crore loss to the State. As per Rule 37 of the MCR, the lessee shall not, without the previous consent in writing of the State Government assign, sublet, mortgage, or in any other manner, transfer the mining lease, or any right, title, or interest therein.
The Goa Foundation had calculated the government’s own estimated total loss (not the actual total real loss calculated by Goa Foundation) due to illegal mining in excess of the scheduled plan, mining in excess of environmental clearances short recovery of royalty amount and mining audit report as Rs 3,431 crore Goa Foundation Director Claude Alvares had said that all assets of the mining companies should be seized and taken over to recover the dues and pay mining dependents.
The Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant on Tuesday held a review meeting with the officials of the Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG), Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel, and Advocate General Devidas Pangam, as the government will initiate the process to auction the mining leases, which is likely to be held only after three months.
Speaking to reporters post-meeting, Dr Sawant said that before going for auction of the leases, the government must clear the audit report prepared by the CAs, Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG), violations under Section 37 of the Mineral Concession Rule (MCR) (as reported in the Justice MB Shah Commission report) and report of Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Sawant said that as per the CAs report, the State should get Rs 1,000 cr from the mining companies, and accordingly, notices were issued to recover Rs 300 crore. “We have managed to recover Rs 120 crore so far. Many have challenged the notices in court,” he said.
In 2015, the State Government had appointed 15 chartered accountants to undertake a comprehensive audit of leaseholders and traders of mineral ore in Goa during the past five years. The accountants had submitted an audit report.
The Chief Minister further said that the CAG report is cleared and soon a decision will be taken with regards to Section 37 violations.
“Once the 37 violations are cleared, we will deal with SIT cases,” he said.
Sawant said that the auction process has already started and we have taken SBICAP on board. “We will take another two to three months to reach the auction stage,” he said.
The State government had recently directed 88 mining leaseholders to vacate the lease-bound areas.
The iron ore mining activities in the State have been shut since March 2018 after the Supreme Court quashed and set aside the second renewals to the leases.