The state government wants that the port officials - both from the major and minor ports - ask the ore exporters to produce NOCs from the mines department before the ore is sent onboard vessels, officials said.
PANAJI: The state government wants that the port officials - both from the major and minor ports - ask the ore exporters to produce NOCs from the mines department before the ore is sent onboard vessels, officials said.
The mines department also wants the details of the arrival of vessels, names of exporters, capacity of the vessel and the amount of ore proposed to be exported.
Earlier, parties approached the mines department for NOC mostly after loading the vessels and on the basis of the royalty challans paid to the mines department. In an admission that this was happening, the director of mines, Mr Prassanna Acharya admitted that earlier the department had no option but to treat the ore loaded onto the vessel to be the ore from the respective mining lease. There have been allegations that royalty challans were a freely saleable commodity and were available in the market to anybody who had the money.
"When an NOC is issued from our office before the actual loading of the vessel, the activity of transportation and the loading can be regulated more effectively and can be cross checked to confirm that the ore comes from the respective leases," the mines department informed port officials with the director pointing out: "As such, I would request you to explore the possibility of seeking NOCs from this department prior to loading of ships or vessels and also if you can share your date with regards to arrival of vessels, names of exporters, capacity of the vessel and the quantum of ore to be proposed to be exported based on the shipping bill or other documents submitted by the exporters so the activity of the ore export can be regulated efficiently." Mines department officials said that the rules for the same are being formulated.
Interestingly, a meeting between the regional controller of mines (Indian Bureau of Mines or IBM) and the director of mines on monthly returns filed by lease holders to both the agencies did not contain the same details resulting in conflicting figures. The government has argued in a communiqué to the Centre that the lease holders have to be admonished and reminded that in the monthly returns filed before the mines department and in the copy to the IBM, the contents must be the same and any additional date that leases desire to submit should be enclosed with the monthly report and the same should be endorsed to all concerned as an additional note.
The state government has also asked the Centre regarding the environment clearances (ECs) granted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) under its EIA notification 1994 and subsequently under EIA notification 2006. These ECs have been granted without first ascertaining whether such mining leases are subsisting or otherwise the upper limits of production approved by IBM and that stipulated in the ECs are found not to match in some cases; in which case what would be the criteria to be adopted by the state government.
Earlier vide orders dated 16/6/2010 and 7/1/2011 issued to the CoP and MPT, it was made mandatory to have a no-objection certificate issued by the mining department stating that the royalty had been paid on the quantity proposed to be exported before granting the outward clearance to vessels. Admitting that despite the consolidated efforts illegalities have not been completely eliminated and more efforts are required from all concerned and "your respective department" which can be achieved by coordinated efforts from each of us.
On the excess production, the GSPCB is being asked to take up its study and the MoEF has asked the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, to carry out a regional environmental impact assessment study in mining areas in Goa. The state’s illegal mining scam has been pegged at Rs10,000 crore by ex-Congress MLA, Mr Dayanand Narvekar during his deposition before the Justice M B Shah commission hearing in the state. The commission was appointed by the Supreme Court to probe illegal iron and manganese ore in the country.
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