PANJIM: Goa government has urged the Union Mines Ministry to approach the Supreme Court and seek relaxation of the annual iron ore production cap, which has been fixed at 20 million tonnes.
In turn, the Union Ministry has directed the State to draft the iron ore production plan for Goa before approaching the Supreme Court to seek the relaxation.
The Ministry is also of the opinion that the Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG) should prepare an infrastructural plan with utilisation of District Mineral Fund (DMF) money, justifying the need for relaxing the annual capping. Under DMF, Rs 12 crore has been deposited by the lease holders, so far.
The information was provided by Mines Director Prasanna Acharya at the recently held Coordination cum Empowered Committee (CCEC) meeting in New Delhi. “The Union Secretary (Mines) suggested preparing an infrastructure plan with the utilisation of DMF funds, along with production plan before going to the Supreme Court,” he said.
The Apex Court, hearing the illegal mining petitions, through its appointed Capping Committee has restricted extraction to 20 million tonnes of ore. A total of 89 mining leases have been renewed in the State, with a pro-rata basis distribution of 20 million tonnes production.
For the ongoing mining season, fresh production has been around 5 million tonnes so far, with 14-15 mining leases operational.
