TEAM HERALD
PANJIM/OLD GOA: Missing out the deadline of September 30 set by him on the mining lease policy, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday said that the crucial policy on allocation of iron ore leases would be placed before the Cabinet on October 1, for approval. Parrikar, however, was non-committal on whether the State government’s suspension order on the mining operations, imposed on September 10, 2012 would be lifted after the mining lease policy is finalized and notified.
The Chief Minister said the State Cabinet will now meet on October 1, where the mining policy would be taken up.
“There is a day’s delay for approval of the mining policy. We wanted to do it on September 30 as promised earlier. But the Cabinet meeting is now fixed for October 1,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the foundation stone laying ceremony for the four-lane Ribandar bypass road, from Old Goa to Panjim.
“Ninety per cent of the time, deadlines are met but 10 per cent of the times, deadlines cannot be met due to unforeseen circumstances,” he said, justifying the delay in finalizing the mining lease policy. Parrikar had initially announced that he would finalize the lease allocation policy by September 20, followed by execution of the mining lease deeds with 27 lease holders, from October 15 onwards.
Following the Supreme Court directive, the State government has drafted a mining policy for granting leases. The new policy would be an expansion of the existing Goa Mineral Policy 2013. The policy is likely to classify all 360 mining leases (valid before September 10, 2012) into three categories based on their status.
Meanwhile, the chief minister refused to comment as to when the mining leases suspension order imposed by his government would be lifted. “How can I comment now? It is for the Cabinet to approve the policy. Only after that, the decision on lifting the suspension order will come. It’s not fair for me to comment on anything right now,” Parrikar said.
