TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: As lakhs of crucial documents and files of the Directorate of Mines and Geology are being shifted to its new office in Menezes Braganza, Goa Police’s security personnel are keeping a close watch to ensure the records don’t go missing.
Taking no chance, the state government on August 14, 2012 had shifted several files, apparently having the key to unearth the quantum of illegal iron ore exports, to a secret location. It had planned to digitize these documents. Simultaneously, policemen at the premises were posted to ensure no one tampers with other documents.
The department, housed in Udyog Bhavan, was recently shifted to the nearby building which is close to the police headquarters. However, stacks of files are still in the process of being transported to the new office.
“The files are being shifted in phases… Until these are entirely shifted, security will not be withdrawn from the old office,” said an officer.
A Mines Department official told Herald that in the coming week, all the files will possibly be shifted to the new premises, which is when the security will also move there.
The files which were moved last year are of various NOCs and royalty challans issued to the traders and exporters since the year 2009. The then Digambar Kamat-led government had made NOCs mandatory for all the iron ore that is shipped from both ports in Goa. There were allegations that a lot of rigging took place fuelling illegal iron ore exports.
In August 2013, the department digitized all its records, including mining plans right up to 1930s when mining and export of iron ore began, following fears these might be lost during shifting of its office premises. Almost two-and-a-half lakh documents were scanned and stored on the server with a huge backup.
