Team Herald
PANJIM: Setting a new deadline to resume legal mining operations, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday said in the next five months, the ore extraction process will begin, if the government manages to complete the auction process within four months.
As the State government proposes to auction iron ore mining leases in a cluster or blocks, Sawant told the House that a firm bidding at the auction will not be allowed to hold more than three leases, or a total mining area above 10 square kilometres.
Sawant, who is also Minister for Mines, said the erstwhile leaseholders who have been transparent and not involved in illegalities will be given an opportunity to participate in the auctioning process.
He said that the Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL) has identified and proposed five mining blocks for auction, apart from the 88 leases, which would be also auctioned in cluster form.
He said that the leases coming under single Environment Clearance (EC) have been classified as blocks to facilitate transfer of ECs to new lease holders. “Within four months, the auction process should be complete. Once that is done, within 15 days, the Environment Clearances (ECs) will be transferred, which would be valid for a period of two years. So considering this, in the next five months, legal mining activities should commence….after two years, the new lease owner will have to apply for a fresh EC,” Sawant explained.
The Chief Minister also went on to add that as per Section 6B of the MMDR Act, there is restriction on allotment of more than 10-sq km area to a single lease holder in Goa; in addition, a maximum of three leases can be taken.
His explanation came in reply to GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai’s charge that creation of blocks was a ploy to keep small Goan mining companies out, and promote big players like Vedanta, Jindal and Adani, among others.
Even as Sardesai pointed out that the Goa Mineral Development Corporation, constituted last year, only exists on paper, Sawant said once the functioning is streamlined, the government will participate in the auction process through the Corporation.
Responding to the concern raised by Sardesai with regards to employment to local truck owners, machinery operators and others, Sawant said the entire existing workforce will get 100 per cent employment. He said the government will also set conditions for new lease holders, to give preference to existing staff.
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Transparent mining? The Courts didn’t think so?
The Justice Shah Commissions’ figure of Rs 35,000 crore cannot be dismissed lightly. It is the debt that mining companies owe the State. Can they even think of resuming unless this debt is paid? Yuri Alemao’s family was involved in mining contracts and machinery supplies, and hence he has a right to feel sad. But facts are facts. The courts have clearly pointed out the role of the mining companies and that is the reason why mining ground to a halt. In the Lithoferro case (of the renewal of 88 leases on January 12, 2015: The bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta, while cancelling the 88 lease renewals affected by the Goa government in January 2015 said, “The “undue haste” in which the State government acted gives the impression that it was “willing to sacrifice the rule law for the benefit of the mining lease holders”.
It then said, “The real intention” of the second renewal was to “satisfy the avariciousness of the mining leaseholders”.
“The decision was taken only to augment the revenues of the State… The second renewal of the mining leases granted by the State of Goa is liable to be set aside and is quashed.”
The draft mining policy of the State acknowledged that “there were illegalities and irregularities and that the State had witnessed the peak of chaotic and unregulated mining without any concern for the fragile ecology and environment of the State or for the general well-being of the average Goan.
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Auctioning a group of leases
with a common EC impossible,
getting EC in 5 months ruled out
A key mining voice who holds positions in key industry bodies reflected a growing skepticism about the CM’s promise to restart mining, though it is unclear how the legacy mining companies can play a part in the future of mining, unless they clear their dues and appear
with a clean slate.
The industry voice (who insisted in remaining anonymous but sent a written message) said,
“Some misleading statements were made in the
Assembly.
As per Justice Patnaik’s judgement, all the leases and ECs thereof have expired in 2007, and mining can only start by granting fresh leases and lessees obtaining fresh ECs. MoEF&CC has also sent a letter to the Govt cancelling 176 ECs in Goa. Therefore, transferring ECs is not possible as it would be in contravention of the SC judgement. Hence the question of auctioning a group of leases with a common EC as a block does not arise.
The process of obtaining an EC takes several months so completing the auction process and starting fresh mining within a timeline of five months is impossible.
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BJP, CONGRESS SOFT ON MINING BARONS
CM’s submission: No PAC report on mining available
>Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant in a major submission on the Floor of the House said there is no Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on mining available
>Sawant said that the draft report on mining was not adopted by the PAC and hence it was not presented in the House as per the records of Legislature Secretariat
>In 2011, the Public Accounts Committee headed by then Leader of the Opposition late Manohar Parrikar, had exposed probably the biggest mining scam of all times in Goa estimating it at Rs 35,000 crore
>Parrikar had alleged that everyone in the government, right from low-ranking officials to ministers were involved in illegal mining
>The scam was major election agenda of the BJP, which managed to gain historic victory in the 2012 Assembly elections
>Yuri’s allegation: Multi-crore scam used only to defame Goan leaseholders
>Congress MLA Yuri Alemao alleged that the multi-crore scam was used only to defame Goan mining leaseholders and defeat the then Congress government
>He said the only contention was to hand over mines to crony capitalists
