SC continues mining ban in Goa till Nov, appoints expert panel
PTI, NEW DELHI | 05 October 2012 14:51 IST
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered that the ban on illegal mining acitivity in Goa following the Shah Commission report will continue and has asked a Central Empowered Committee to submit a report on illegal mining within four weeks.
The apex court also imposed a restriction on transportation of ore that has already been mined.
The Justice Shah Commission report indicted the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), the union ministry for environment and forests (MoEF), state directorate of mines, the state forest department and the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) for illegal mining in the state.
The report says illegal mining was spread over 500 hectares of area, several hundred acres of which was forest and government-owned land.
The commission said that the iron ore mining scam was worth nearly Rs.35,000 crore.
The voluminous report holds the state government and central government agencies party to the scam, along with the powerful mining operators here, who, according to Justice Shah, plundered natural resources and facilitated an "unrestricted, unchecked and unregulated export of iron ore to China", which made the exporters of ore "richer and richer".
The report said that forest laws were completely flouted by the mining companies and even mines which were illegally functioning in forest areas were not stopped by government authorities.
"All mining activities should be stopped with immediate effect, including transportation for all mining leases where there is no approval or clearance of the Standing Committee of NBWL (National Board of Wild Life) and are falling within 10 km of eco-sensitive buffer zone," Shah has recommended.
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