Team Herald
PANJIM: As pre-monsoon showers descended upon the State on Wednesday, the eight month-long iron ore mining and tourism seasons came to a halt. The government and stakeholders claim that the season has been quite good for both sectors, and are already looking to improve upon the performance when the activities recommence in October.
“The official mining season has come to end from today. No activities related to mining including extraction, transportation, will be permitted during the monsoon from June 1 to September 30,” Mines Director Prasanna Acharya said.
“The tourism season draws to a close today. Most of the shack operations have closed and shack structures removed for the season. Water sports activities and other adventure activities have also stopped for the season,” Tourism Director Menino D’Souza said.
MINING: After an initial lull, iron ore production in Goa began and touched the ceiling of 20 million tonnes during the financial year ending March (2016-17). However, it failed to achieve the eight million tonnes target for the month of May, set by the Directorate of Mines and Geology, mainly because of the suspension of mining activities at 12 mines in Sonshi.
In all 41 mining leases were operational until April 28 this season, when Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) suspended operations at 12 mines in Sonshi due to dust pollution.
DMG records state that for the October 2016 to May 2017 season, 25 million tonnes of fresh ore were produced (20 million tonnes for the financial year) with the State earning revenue of over Rs 400 crore.
The e-auction of stacked ore did not receive a good response and DMG conducted just three auctions and earned revenue of Rs 14.50 crore.
“Compared to 2015-16, this season has been quite good for the industry. Since there is restriction on iron ore production, we cannot expect more than what we have got this season. Also, international market prices were fluctuating,” a mining company official said.
The government as well as mining stakeholders are hoping that the Supreme Court may increase the annual ore production cap next season.
TOURISM: The tourism season, which saw a marked increase in charter flights, had more than 50 percent of them flying in from Russia. Nearly 980 flights landed in the State till mid-May, of which around 600 were from Russia.
“We are certain that the season has been a successful one for most tourism stakeholders. Tourism Department along with Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) is now ready for monsoon tourism,” the Tourism Director said.
Manuel Cardoso, General Secretary, Traditional Shack Owners Association said that the shacks have been dismantled due to the rains. “Today is the last day for shacks. The season this time was only for three months, that is, between January and March, after that there was no business from April to May,” he said pointing to the delay in allocation of shacks.
