TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the House that he was not accepting the Rs 35,000 crore figure, claimed by Shah Commission of Inquiry as the quantum of loss to the state exchequer in the mining scam. Instead he chose to peg the actual loss at Rs 4,000 to 5,000 crore.
“I’m not accepting his figure. He (Justice Shah) may be a nice man. He said in the following lines that ‘this however requires to be verified by proper identification and surveys’…. The correct figure is what the PAC has estimated – between Rs 4,000 to 5,000 crore,” Parrikar said, arguing, “Shah is talking about value of ore. Value of ore does not mean loss. There are some other costs involved (such as transportation). That is not loss… Only royalty is a loss. That would be Rs 4000 to 5000 crore,” Parrikar said on the issue of mining while replying to the amendments to the motion of thanks to the governor’s speech moved by the Opposition.
“He himself says this needs to be verified by proper methods. Does he vouch for it?” Parrikar asked, referring to Justice M B Shah, “But I agree that it is a loss,” he conceded.
The recovery of the Rs 35,000 crore loss projected by the Shah Commission of Inquiry report was raised by Opposition legislators. St Cruz Congress MLA, Atanasio Monserrate wanted to know “what was your estimated loss” and whether he (Parrikar) had identified who had made the loss.
Parrikar said recovery is not a simple procedure and that the inquiry committee he had appointed headed by Justice RMS Khandeparkar would take between 18 months to two years to get to the bottom of the scam.
He pointed out that the recent Chautala case, took 21 years to be finalised. In his written reply tabled earlier, the chief minister said that even though the government is in conformity with the view of Shah Commission that there are mining illegalities and irregularities, that is not in agreement with the perception of the commission on the magnitude of the illegalities .
“The perception of Shah Commission does not match the realities on the ground which shall be looked into by the Khandeparkar Committee,” Parrikar’s written reply to the House says.
“The assessment of the illegal mining for the last five years which is also the subject matter of Shah Commission report shall be looked into by the Khandeparkar Committee and necessary action shall be initiated as per the decision of the government after the report is submitted by the committee,” reads the reply.
Meanwhile, Parrikar replying to Monserrate said, “Unless you follow the proper procedure of law… you cannot prosecute a person… because that is the system,” and also referred to the case which was filed by Monserrate against the Goa Police for ransacking his house.
“Everything requires time. In your case, it took four years to get an order. This also requires time to identify the culprits,” Parrikar said .
Justice RMS Khandeparkar will require at least six months with the help of a chartered accountant to reconstruct the whole thing, Parrikar said. “If, we have to recover revenue, that takes years,” Parrikar said.
In another reply the chief minister who is also the finance minister Manohar Parrikar pointed out that the shortfall of revenue due to stoppage of mining for the period April 2012-December 2012 as per the projections is estimated to be Rs 279,36 crore.
Parrikar says that the shortfall cannot be fully matched. “Efforts will be made to raise royalty on minor minerals , implement the registration of renewal of leases so that revenue under mining is enhanced ,” reads his reply to the Goa legislative assembly. Besides this steps have been taken to consolidate and enforce revenue recovery mechanisms which have shown positive results, he said.
