Centre suspends green clearances to Goa mines

Conditions for restoring clearances not spelt out

Published on:

11 Sep 2012, 1:19 pm

The Union minister of state for environment, Jayanthi Natarajan, on Wednesday announced suspension of environmental clearances of all the 93 mining leases in Goa. Natarajan made the announcement at a press conference in the state's capital, Panaji.

Natarajan was visiting the state to clarify the position of her party on the recent Rs 1.86 lakh crore coal scam unearthed by Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Natarajan said that her decision to cancel the environmental clearances of the 93 mines operational in the state is a fallout of the report of the Centre-appointed Shah Commission. The commission found huge irregularities in management of overburden dumps which were used for mining minerals, causing widespread ecological damage. It found that iron and manganese ore worth Rs 35,000 crore was exported illegally from the state to countries such China under the pretext of excess dump handling. The conditions for applying for restoring the environmental clearances are yet to be spelt out by the minister.

State had suspended mining only temporarily

Natarajan's announcement comes soon after Goa temporarily suspended mining of iron and manganese ore across the state. In view of the Shah Commission report, the Union ministry of mines had written to the principal secretary (mines) of Goa, asking the state to stop all the mining activity. “The state should restrict removal of mineral from dumps located outside the lease areas till an appropriate mechanism is evolved and Central government approval is obtained in mining plan on such dump removal activity, in order to ensure compliance of the recommendations of Shah Commission of Enquiry,” stated the letter sent on September 7.

What Shah Commission has proposed

It recommends that the production of iron-ore and manganese should be brought down equivalent to the year 2000 to 2001 to mitigate the impact of cluster mining in protected areas. Also, these mines are to stop operation and their clearance is to be kept in abeyance till the time the necessary approval is received
Planning and conservation of iron-ore for at least 50 years is required to be undertaken for the state of Goa, the report says. This can be achieved only by lowering the permission and extraction should not exceed more than 12.5 million tonnes per year for quality grades
The state government should take immediate action to recover market cost of the iron ore illegally extracted after having proven estimation from outside the leased areas; exemplary penalty should be imposed and criminal cases should be filed simultaneously against the lessees and state mines and forest officials found aiding and abetting offenders. The cost incurred due to estimation should be recovered from the extractors

Shah Commission's indictment

China