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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | No excess mining, Goa tells court

No excess mining, Goa tells court

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published Published on Oct 18, 2011   modified Modified on Oct 18, 2011
-The Hindu
 
The Goa government on Tuesday filed a reply before the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court to a Public Interest Litigation petition on illegal mining, claiming that the extraction, which the petitioner questioned, was from dumps and excess mining did not take place.

The affidavit was submitted on behalf of Director of Mines and Geology Arvind Loliekar in the course of the hearing on the Goa Foundation's petition, which demanded implementation of a time-bound, comprehensive Information and Communication Technology-based system of monitoring and control of mining production, transport, and sale of mineral ores produced in the State.The department has given an undertaking that royalty would not be accepted over and above the quantity stipulated for a mine for environmental clearance (EC) and a no-objection certificate (NoC) would not be issued to mines whose production exceeds EC limits.

Referring to the summarised statements of the 2009-10 and 2010-11 (EC) limits, production and exports, submitted by the petitioner, the department said the production as seen from the statements appeared to have crossed EC limits. However, on a scrutiny of the records, it was seen that fresh production or production generated by excavation at the mine site was 34.93 million tonnes, and production due to handling of dumps was 12.60 million tonnes in 2009-10. Fresh production was 32.93 million tonnes, and production due to handling of dumps was 15.45 million tonnes for 2010-11. As such, the department said, the overall production from fresh excavation did not exceed the rated capacity stipulated in the EC. An exercise was undertaken to verify whether any individual mine had exceed the EC limits based on the monthly returns filed by the lease-holders, and it was found that during 2010-2011 there was only one case of production exceeding the EC limits, by about 6,000 tonnes. The production in earlier years was under verification for updating.

Giving the history of dumps at the sites of mines since 1950s, the department contended that when China opened up its market for 45 per cent Fe, not only was the freshly excavated mineral ore exported but mining companies started re-handling these old dumps. For, these dumps consisted of ore of a grade less than 58 per cent Fe, which was earlier rejected but now had export market. It was because of re-handling of the old dumps that production appeared inflated, in excess of the EC limits.

The department said it had of late stopped handling/re-handling of dumps.

There were 410 mineral traders registered under the rules, required to submit monthly returns in Forms B and C with details of stock/storage/sale and the details of export. Assessment was under way and notices would be issued to those who did not file returns, the department said.

To ensure that no ore was exported without payment of royalty and without disclosing the source of the product, the NoC system had been introduced. No ship carrying iron ore was allowed to sail without its having a “No Objection Certificate” issued by the Directorate of Mines and Geology.

The department has given an undertaking to the court that no royalty would be accepted on mineral ore produced in excess of the EC limits, based on the returns submitted by the lease holders.

As the volume of mineral ore transportation was huge — 48 million tonnes in 2010-11 — and as it took place within a 30-km radius, it was difficult for the department to maintain accurate and timely checks on transportation. Hence the department was introducing a system of monitoring transportation, from the mines right up to the loading jetty sites, by installing an electronic system. The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) System, the department claimed, would make monitoring of transportation foolproof, giving no scope for tampering with and manipulation of the details.

It would take not less than three months for installing the system and making it operational for the whole of Goa, as the exercise involved putting infrastructure in place, building software, and training the staff for supervision.

On October 10, the department informed all mining companies of the working and implementation of the RFID System.

‘Minimal evasion'

The department claimed that evasion of royalty on mineral ores in Goa was minimal.

Notwithstanding the affidavit presented on Tuesday, implementation of the RFID is uncertain. For, the Goa Mineral Ore Exporters' Association last week promptly rejected the department's request to take up the responsibility of implementation, stating it was not a monitoring authority.

On extraction of ore removed from dumps, State Pollution Control Board officials told The Hindu last week that they had sought the advice of Solicitor-General Rohinton Nariman on whether removal of ore from dumps needed a separate EC. Director of Mines Loliyekar said on Tuesday that Advocate-General Subodh Kantak had ruled out the need for a separate EC. But the Law Department was awaiting the Solicitor-General's opinion.


The Hindu, 19 October, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2550001.ece


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