PANAJI: Assuring the House of taking action against the unclaimed mining ore dumps existing in various parts of the state, which are responsible for environmental pollution in a big way, the Minister for Environment, Mr Aleixo Sequeira on Friday said that the department of environment is powerless in taking action against those polluting the environment through transport of mining produce, as the related powers are delegated to various agencies like the home department, transport department, police and so on.

"As far as the Goa State Pollution Control Board is concerned, it has no powers to take action against either the ore-carrier vehicles moving without tarpaulin cover, or overloaded vehicles carrying mining extract," he acknowledged, pointing out that the department of environment has to depend on other agencies for initiating any action against the polluters.

The Minister for Environment replying to a related question from the Sanguem MLA, Mr Vasudev Gaonkar, said that a number of illegal mining ore dumps exist in various places in the state, including at Usgao, where there are as many as 18 such dumps. "And these dumps exist without any permission, and we don’t even know who owns them," he added, informing that show cause notices have been issued against these dumps and further closure orders given through the police.

Observing the helplessness of the Minister for Environment with due seriousness, the Speaker, Mr Pratapsing Rane advised the Minister to take these dumps in government possession and auction the same. Mr Rane also said that the government should make use of Article 133 of the CrPC, and by declaring the ore-carrier vehicles responsible for environmental pollution as nuisance, should initiate action against them. He also maintained that the timing for ore-carrier vehicles could be restricted between 6 p.m to 6 a.m.

The Minister for Environment said that due to the growth in mining industry, the ore traffic in the state has increased tremendously. "Even if we restrict the timings for the ore transporting vehicles, it would create chaos on the roads," he noted.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Manohar Parrikar informed the House that places like Bicholim, Usgao, Sanvordem, Curchorem, Sanguem, Rivona, Quepem and Netravali have been highly polluted by the ongoing heavy mining transport. Stating that the ore-carrier vehicles run by people hired from places like Jharkhand do not adhere to any transport regulations, Mr Parrikar said that the total length of the roads running in the state is 95 km, while there are at least 11,000 ore-carrier trucks running on these roads.

Finally, observing that controlling the illegal mining dumps would substantially reduce environmental pollution resulting through the mining transport, the Minister for Environment said that he would close or at least auction these dumps.