GF to challenge if mining leases not auctioned
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 22 April 2014 22:53 IST
While Goa government is planning to resume mining by September onwards by renewing the leases step by step, Goa Foundation has decided to challenge it in the Supreme Court if the leases are not auctioned.
Chief minister Manohar Parrikar today clarified that he plans to resume mining by September or October, but hardly 40 per cent. All permissible mines could start only by January.
But Dr Claude Alvares of Goa Foundation expresses a doubt since the whole procedure laid down by the apex court is very lengthy and tideous.
Both Goa Foundation and the chief minister agree that the SC has considered all the leases ‘illegal’ since they were not renewed in 2007. It means no mining lease exists today, barring eight to nine, which were granted after liberation.
The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF) is yet to appoint an independent regulator while the deadline expired on 31 March.
The court has removed the power of Environmental Impact Assessment from the MOEF since it was being subjected to political misuse.
As per the court order, stated Dr Alvares, the new leases could be granted only after seeking Environment Clearance from MOEF.
This whole process would be monitored by the independent regulator and granting of EC would not be so easy, as in the past, he states.
According to him, no EC could be granted henceforth without considering the quantity of ore extraction permissible to each lease since it has now a cap of 20 MT per year.
On the other hand, said Dr Alvares, the Goa Foundation would approach the Supreme Court if the leases are not granted through auction.
He is also of the view that no private mine owner should be allowed to run the mine in future but it should be run by a Government Corporation or a body like the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation.
Parrikar has also said that he is devising a new structure, which would be transparent and without having political power over it, to grant new leases.
It will have to be thus seen whether the whole exercise could be finished within four to eight months (September to January) and mining could be resumed in Goa.
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GF Can Believe AAP. Take Help From Them. They Are Honest. They Will Help GF In Saving Goans From Further Destruction. AAP & GF Should Demand, First Recover 35 Thousand Corers And Then Re-Start Mining. Mining Income Must Go In The Hands Of Goans Through Swaraj Act.
- Jose Rod, Goa | 23 rd April 2014 13:42
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