TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Supreme Court appointed six-member expert panel which has to recommend ceiling or capping of iron ore, arrived in Goa Monday evening to meet officials from mining related departments on Tuesday. The panel has to make its submissions to the Apex court on February 15.
The expert panel is constituted to conduct a Macro environment impact assessment (EIA) study on what should be the ceiling of annual excavation of iron ore from Goa.
The Committee during their earlier visit in January had issued directions to nearly 10 departments to furnish data related to mining. While forest department has been asked to submit details such as mining in forest area and dumps lying in the protected area, GSPCB has to furnish data on the quality of water and air pollution in the mining area. Similarly, water resources have to provide data on ground water table and PWD on road capacity.
The Committee members also met petitioner Dr Claude Alvares and the people dependent on the mining business including mine owners. While Alvares recommended gross capping of 5 million tons per annum with complete ban on ore exports, stakeholders such as barges, trucks, machinery owners suggested annual cap of 45-50 million tons.
Meanwhile, Dr U V Singh monitoring committee on iron ore e-auction would be arriving in Goa on Tuesday on its third visit since December. The first e-auction is slated for February 17, where nearly half a million metric tons of ore would be auctioned.
