John Fernandes, wrote to Union Mines Minister in 2008, to help export iron ore extracted from a mine by Dahej Minerals which had no licence
Pushed for granting a lease for a mine, even as ore was extracted and ready for export
Blatant example of how Congress doled out mining leases and soft peddled on illegal mining
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The past may come to haunt the normally amiable but tough talking GPCC President John Fernandes. And as it does, his actions will symbolise the politician, mine owner, government nexus, which was responsible for the real ills of the real face of illegal mining in Goa. Way back in 2008, Fernandes, then a ‘Ex-Member of Parliament’, wrote to the then Union Minister for Mines, Late Sisram Ola, asking him to assist, one Balchandra Naik, CMD of Dahej Minerals, in the export of iron ore from a lease, which the Mines department has confirmed to Herald was not granted.
In documents available with Herald, it’s shocking to find that Fernandes, wrote to the Mines Minister to intervene and get Naik’s mining lease granted, after he had extracted iron ore, Fernandes actually blatantly mentioned in his letter to Ola “As he had some impediment, he could not carry out export of this extracted iron ore hence he has approached you (Ola) to help him out.”
Herald has learnt that Fernandes also helped Naik out legally and therefore used his own political connections to approach the minister to actually cover up an illegality of extracting ore from a mine, which was granted a mining lease. The reason for seeking this favour, detailed by Fernandes in his letter is interesting. “Shri Balchandra Naik has been a great help and strong supporter of our party”. He went on to explain that when the Congress split and the office was captured by Congress(U), the party was literally on the “road side”. At that time Naik had given shelter in his house to open the first Congress(I) office.
There is another shocker in this letter. It stated that “this act of his was acknowledged” by Makhan Lal Fotedar, the Union Mines Minister in 1988, who “directed” the Goa government to give him permission to “resume his mining activities”. However, no such favour was actually granted by the Government of Goa, though Naik obviously went on extracting ore from TC 4/59.
The Mines Department in Goa has
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confirmed that the lease of Naik TC 4/59 in Poriem, has not been renewed. The Mines department gave Herald the following information. On the TC No, mining concession was granted to one D Maria Jorgino Correia M E Lopes on April 6, 1959. The concession was granted on evacuee property.
In 1987, the concession got abolished and it was converted into a mining lease. However, the lessee did not apply for either the first or second renewal of the lease.
On December 7, 2001, Dahej Minerals Ltd applied for prospecting lease (PL) on the same TC No and was granted Prospecting Licence for a period of three years.
The firm then on May 17, 2004 applied for mining lease (ML), which is still pending. It’s neither been rejected nor granted.
With this background in mind, it’s crucial to ask why the Goa government has not initiated any action against M/s Dahej Minerals. It is clear from John Fernandes’ letter that ore was not only extracted from that mine but attempted to be exported. At the same time a proposal for granting of a mining lease was submitted by Fernandes but the said proposal was not received in original from the State government, thereby making it clear that the Goa government had not moved any proposal.
Irrespective of any justification or clarification that may be offered by the GPCC president, his letter of 2008, at a time when RTI was not a powerful fact finding tool, proves that the Congress gave mining leases to political cronies, or allowed blatant illegal mining, or cover illegal mining by draping it with a mask of regularity. While there was never any doubt about this, the unearthing of this letter during the perusal of some mining documents during research, nails this beyond doubt.
This is yet another slap on the party whose Chief Minister Digambar Kamat has been held responsible and is under investigation for looking away when Goa was looted.
