Parrikar pegs mining loss at Rs 3,500 crore -Herald

October 12, 2013 TEAM HERALD PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday told the Goa Assembly that encroachment by the mine owners is merely 9.2 hectares accounting for illegal mining estimated between Rs 3,500 crore to Rs 5,000 crore, as against Rs 35,000 crore claimed by Justice MB Shah Commission report. Parrikar was responding to a question by Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco on mining. The Chief Minister said the Shah commission has claimed encroachment of 578 hectare which is erroneous as the Commission had used handheld Global Positioning Survey device estimation. The chief minister quoting the survey conducted by the Mines and Geology Department stated that the encroachment is only of 9.286 hectares and that the money would be recovered after issuing proper notices. The Opposition Benches had questioned Parrikar, who also holds the Mines portfolio over the delay in prosecuting the mine owners while targeting the politicians and Mines Department officials in the alleged illegal mining scam. The entire question hour Friday was dominated by the mining issue, with Parrikar on his feet for the entire one hour. Responding to yet another question he said that although the mining policy has capped the ore export to 45 million tonnes, which includes 20 mt fresh ore and 25 mt dumps, actually only 30 mt ore can be exported owing to the local conditions like carrying capacity of the roads. Parrikar said that during his work on the PAC report he realized that 40-45 mt ore could be allowed to be exported from the State. Claiming that State’s mining industry can sustain for the next 30 years with this rate of capping, Parrikar claimed that there are approximately 750 mt ore piled up in the dumps across the State. The government has already notified the land conversion policy for the dumps wherein the land used for the dumping of rejects can be converted to non-agricultural use by paying fee to the government. People should not mistake this with the dump policy, he said. The Chief Minister said that of the total dumps, 70 per cent are in the privately owned land while 30 per cent on government properties. He stated that if mining lease holders do not turn up to apply for land conversion, the dumps would be taken over by the government and auctioned. He said that more than Rs 180 crore has been collected by the State government under this policy and additional Rs 100 crore is expected next month, which is a deadline to submit the claims. The Opposition Benches also questioned government’s stand against auctioning of the mining leases. Parrikar said that auctioning of the leases is a central subject as it requires amendment of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act, 1957. Grabbing the opportunity to make a political point, Parrikar said that MMDR Act would be regulated once BJP comes to power in the Centre and Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister. “I will do it (make amendments to the Act). Support us. Vote for Modi… (we will) Allow the mining leases to be auctioned. Those leases which are not renewed get deemed renewal as per the law. The law needs to be changed but it is the central government’s prerogative and it will be amended once NDA comes to power,” he said as the BJP leaders voiced their support. The chief minister also assured the House that the mining transport regulation would be notified by next week, which will control unregulated mining from the lease areas. “The regulations will ensure that mining transport is regulated through respective lease holders or traders... Electronic weigh measures will be set up to check that each truck is carrying permitted quantity of ore and it is not overloaded,” he told the House. Parrikar admitted that records at Mines Department were in shambles blaming the Congress regime for the entire mess. He said, “All challans were in shambles. We have got everything on record and it is being uploaded on the computers. We have roped in four CAs for this purpose. Eventually we will bring 25 CAs to go through each mines lease. In yet another assurance, Parrikar told the House that government is appointing National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to guide and recommend to the government the optimal level of fresh mining that can be undertaken under the mines and minerals policy. http://www.heraldgoa.in/News/Main%20Page%20News/Parrikar-pegs-mining-loss-at-Rs-3-500-crore/80573.html