TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The state government committees for re-verification of mined ore headed by Assistant Director of Mines is yet to complete its work, with sources saying that it will take at least a month to complete its assignment.
The committees are mandated to check the ore stacked at jetties, ports, stockyards and lease sites and were due to submit their preliminary reports by December 15.
However, there are allegations that in the past the government relied on mining companies to give them the data, leading to many irregularities. Till date they there have been no improvement in the department as far as either technical staff or even technology is concerned, hence, many feel that getting accurate details could present a problem to the department.
Sources also say that the mining companies have refused to cooperate with the department, given that they have nothing to gain from the exercise and they have already submitted their details. “The committees will also have to identify the grade of iron ore,” officials informed.
Directorate of Mines and Geology on November 25, constituted two committees headed by Assistant director Parag Nagarcekar for South and Manuel Barreto for North Goa. Following Supreme Court order to allow e-auction of unused extracted iron ore lying in the state, the department with permission from the apex court, constituted teams for re-verification of ore and inventory of the stock.
Nagarcekar said that the process of ore verification is on and it will take time to complete. He also said that it is not possible to predict at this moment whether the quantity of ore would increase or reduce from what was informed to Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court appointed three member monitoring committee set up to monitor the re-verification and e-auctioning process, which were suppose to land in Goa on their second visit on Sunday, postponed their visit as the local committees failed to complete the exercise.
Sources said that the ore verification is to be carried out in the presence of at least two witnesses, giving all description and details of the site and ore among other details. This will serve as proof of having conducted the exercise in a proper way.
The detail of the stock at the lease has to be collected from the respective lease holders. The inventory would start from Mormugao Port, followed by jetties, stockyards, the beneficiation plants situated outside lease area and then the ore at the lease site.
