Team Herald
PANJIM: The State government’s plan to e-auction iron-ore dumps in the New Year has come in for severe criticism from green activists, who allege that none of the safeguards that should be followed for lifting of the polluting material will be adhered to.
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According to them, many of the 18 ore dumps lie in eco-sensitive areas (ESAs) with forest cover and wildlife presence. The e-auction be held in four phases from January 22 to 25, 2025.
Environmentalist Ramesh Gauns said that the government’s plan to auction the mining dumps will disturb these eco-sensitive areas. “For so long, the dumps have become stabilised within ESAs, but the movement of trucks and heavy machinery will cause disturbance and pollution,” Gauns said. He also claimed that according to the earlier mining plan, dumps were meant for reclamation and had to be sent back to the pits. Gauns pointed out that the tender documents only speak of revenue generation, but don’t address environmental concerns. He added that mining dumps require an Environmental Clearance (EC) order, but the government had not placed it before the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), not consulted the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC). “Why is the government not giving dumps to National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) which is ready to give Rs 10,000 crore for them?” he asked.
Environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar feared that the once the dumps started being moved after the auctioning was over, it would cause dust pollution and affect affect wildlife. “Any activity at the dumps is essentially another form of mining activity and those who bid for them will not follow guidelines but lift ore from the dumps indiscriminately,” he added.
On the other hand, official sources claimed that the onus for all the necessary permissions before lifting of the ore would lie with the successful bidder. On auctioning and movement of ore dumps in ESAs without an EC, the official pointed out that the Centre had only issued draft notification on ESAs along the Western Ghats. Once the final notification is issued by the MoEF&CC, the mining activity in ESAs will have to be phased out within a period of five years and no fresh mining would be allowed in these ESAs.
CM Sawant had earlier stated that the State government was targeting a revenue of Rs 400-500 crore from the e-auctioning of 30-40 dumps which are “unclaimed on private land without payment of the land conversion fee”, and which the government had identified after conducting a survey. Most of the dumps to be e-auctioned have been lying untouched at various locations since mining operations stopped in 2012.
