TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Not ruling out that the present mining lease holders could be allowed to continue, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Friday refused to commit ‘when’ prosecution of politicians and mine owners alleged to be involved in illegal mining would begin, even as he stressed that the recent Supreme Court order on mining would be implemented in toto.
Parrikar, however, conceded that there was a definite paucity of staff in the Department of Mines promising to revamp it after the code of conduct ended. The chief minister, however, flatly refused to consider the suggestion of forming of a Corporation to manage mining in the State, arguing, that could lead to increased corruption, even as he announced that the court had accepted most of the government’s contentions.
Addressing media on the court order, the chief minister said that policy framework was necessary before prosecution to ascertain culpability of people like Digambar Kamat, mining lessors, etc even as he argued that the Shah Commission’s recommendation to prosecute has not been accepted calling this a “major finding.” And on the point that all mining leases from 2007 are illegal, he said that a proper inquiry will have to be conducted before a decision is taken, even as he said that the Shah Commission report on deemed leases cannot be accepted.
Trying to distinguish between politics and governance he said that as a political statement he felt that “All are involved, including Digambar Kamat but as a chief minister, I have to follow the due process and get credible evidence.”
On the leases, the chief minister announced that the State government will formulate a policy according to the Act and the rules by June and only then any lease would be given out, refusing to say whether there would be an auction or some other system would be followed for the allotment of leases.
“At this moment it is status quo. Once the policy is finalized, then all this will be addressed,” he said adding that the suspension order will be removed after the policy on how to give the leases will be formulated.
He said that once the policy will determine who will get the leases, then those who are selected will have to apply for the ECs, adding that he felt that 40-50 mines would not have a problem to get ECs.
Announcing that mining would begin by October when the balance 13-14 million tonnes of ore would be auctioned by July-August, the chief minister said that the dumps also belonged to the Goa government. There are approximately 720 million tonne ore in the dumps.
“Only thing that I have ruled out is that we will not form a Corporation,” he said adding “we believe in principle of less government and more of governance.”
On revamp of the Mines Department, the chief minister said that there was a lot of manpower required. CAs are required to analyse records from 2007 to 2011 to find out the amount of ore extracted; there is need to check alleged illegalities, like the prima facie understanding that deemed provisions (leases) were given under wrong provisions, even as he admitted that royalty was indeed paid on the ore extracted. One needs to examine cases where people exported the ore but origin of ore was not certain.
