Mines ministry to draft own policy
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: As the Union Mines Ministry is in the process of drafting its own policy on Dump Mining, State governments including Goa have been asked not to take any decision in this regard, till the policy is formulated.
The policy will address issues such as the removal of iron ore in excess of quantity approved in the Mining Plan and the effective monitoring mechanism.
The Ministry has made it clear that dump area is to be construed as part of mining lease and that dumping is essentially a mining activity.
Meanwhile, the CEC has stated that the Indian Bureau of Mines as an enforcer and regulator has been found wanting in following procedures in this respect, and the guidelines issued by it lack clarity.
“The issue of dump mining is very important and critical given the current scenario in the States of Goa and Maharashtra which are having huge quantities of dumps,” CEC chairperson and Secretary Mines said.
As per Directorate of Mines and Geology, approximately, 750 million tones of dumps are lying in the various parts of Goa and mostly piled up outside the lease area.
“Dump mining has two issues which need to be addressed by the Ministry- removal of ore in excess of quantity approved in the Mining Plan and effective monitoring mechanism,” Secretary said at a recent meeting of the CEC.
He said that the draft Policy on Dump Mining would be circulated to all the States for their comments and till then States are asked to examine the issue critically.
State government has recently notified a policy called Land Use policy, to regulate dumps of ore stacked outside lease areas and to ban creation of additional dumps in the state and encroachments for dumps.
According to the policy, one has to pay Rs 120 per square meter on ore stored in private property and Rs 220 per square meter on dumps stacked in government property.
As per policy, five years would be given to the firm to clear the dumps and restore the original land.
