PANJIM: Rampant transportation of ore following the Supreme Court judgment of February 7 led to high levels of pollution. Ambient air quality monitoring data with Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), shows that particulate matter (PM10 and PM 2.5) exceeded permissible level by 60 to 100 per cent in February.
The data is of air pollution along the ore transportation routes at Velguem, Sanvordem Tisk and Ambe Udogk at Santona village in Sanguem taluka that have nearly 10 of the 37 operational mines.
For February, the PM10 (particulate matter of 10 microns diameter/dust pollution) exceedance is almost 66 to 100 per cent in Sanvordem, while at Velguem the PM2.5 has exceeded 75 per cent.
The PM10 permissible limit is 100mpcm while for PM2.5 it is 60mpcm, anything above that is in violation of consent to operate granted by the Board under Air (preservation and control of pollution) Act.
What is interesting is that there were violations even in January, wherein PM10 exceedance was between 27 to 90 percent while PM2.5 was above 80 percent.
Since February 7 till date, the total iron ore production in the State has been almost 2 million tonnes, which is 20 per cent of the total annual production cap.
As per directions issued by Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG), lease holders have been allowed to undertake fresh extraction till March 15 evening under supervision of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), while transportation has to stop after 7 pm on the same day.
Mining activities in the State came to standstill on March 16 as per Supreme Court directions. DMG has decided to seek legal opinion on whether it can allow transportation of extracted ore beyond March 16.
