PANAJI: The Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat on Friday said that the government has undertaken extensive exercise for identifying mining dumps located in government, private and forest lands in the state.

He said the government would not hesitate to take over the unclaimed dumps and auction them. "The 15-day notices have already been issued to identify such dumps," he added.

Replying to a mining-related question in the House during the Question Hour, the Chief Minister said that the Captain of Ports has been directed to ensure that no vessel leaves the Goan port with mining ore unless the vessel gets clear permission from the department of mining as regards clearance of royalty pertaining to the ore. "The government has, likewise, also written to the chairman of the Mormugao Port Trust, Mr Praveen Agarwal" he added.

"We are taking all precautions and have put up a team to enlist the ore export as carried out by the leaseholders of the mines," he stated, lamenting that MPT was not very supportive. The leader of the opposition, Mr Manohar Parrikar said that in such a case the Crime Branch should summon the MPT chairman and interrogate him for hours together, so that he complies with the government directions.

Earlier, the Mapusa MLA, Mr Francis D’Souza pointed out that there was a difference of three million tonnes between ore production in Goa and ore exports from the state during the year 2007-2008 and added that the three million tonne ore was worth ` 900 crore. "This difference increased to 5.31 million tonnes in the year 2008-2009, and was 5.18 million tonnes during the year 2009-2010," he pointed out, adding that the cost of 5.31 million tonne ore and 5.18 million tonne ore was ` 1,500 crore and ` 1,600 crore, respectively.

The government is fast losing revenue by way of royalty, Mr D’Souza stated and questioned as to what the government was doing to prevent this leak. The Chief Minister, in his reply stated that the government has undertaken exercise for verifying the leaseholders and till date has verified 60 per cent of them. "The government has also recovered from them royalty on the ore amounting to ` 1 crore," he added. Speaking further, the Chief Minister said that the export figures of ore have been obtained from the Customs and that the government would claim ore royalty as regards the existing difference.

In its report to the House on Friday, the Goa legislative assembly’s estimates committee on mines expressed shock over the issue of pits left open in excavated mines.

Stating that allowing open pits to remain unfilled was highly objectionable, the committee has further stated that efforts should be made to force mine owners to immediately rehabilitate/fill the pits at their cost failing which extension/renewal of leases should not be made.

The committee has also stated in its report that the dumps in forest areas should be removed at the cost of mine owners and lease rates for occupying government area/forest be recovered immediately.

In its report, the committee has also stated that it was unable to get the exact amount of minerals produced in Goa in view of government’s failure to have proper procedure for accounting minerals, and recommended that every tonne of exported mineral should carry state permit as is done by the excise department in export of liquor etc.

On the issue of illegal mining, the committee has said that stringent action should be taken urgently in order to control illegal mining. The panel also suggested that proper data and statistics be maintained by regularly inspecting mines. The committee has also recommended that all mining companies be compulsorily made to put up boards at the mining sites giving all details of area of lease, its period and boundary pillars besides also giving mining plan for the year before starting mining activity, every year.

Besides, the committee has also suggested that the government should speedily bring in the mining policy for the state by taking into account all the parameters like road safety, environmental concerns, revenue collection, etc. It has also stated that it was pained to hear about lack of revenue accrued to the government from the mining industry.

As regards to export of ore, the committee has recommended that a dialogue should be initiated with central authorities to obtain a share of duty collection on export, in view of the degradation of environment and its impact on the local populace. On the issue of environmental hazards due to mining activity, the committee in its report has stated that the government has neither taken serious steps to curtail environmental hazards nor has it taken positive measures to reverse damage done to environment.

It has been recommended that government should implement measures to increase forest cover to offset deforestation in mining areas. It has also suggested that government should entrust the job of assessing damages and impact of environmental degradation to NEERI or some other agency. The committee has also recommended that government should expedite the process for procuring relevant software and use it before the start of next production season, which will help in knowing the exact ore production. It has recommended placement of more officials at mining sites to get factual data of ore production.