57 mines get pollution clearance, 12 still pending
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 11 July 2015 12:52 IST
Goa Pollution Control Board has finally granted licenses to 57 mining leases, holding permission to 12 more.
Licenses to total 69 mining leases were pending before the GPSCB.
Mining activity in Goa has come to a standstill almost for three years now.
Though Supreme Court had finally allowed mining in Goa with conditions, the administrative procedures is delaying it further.
GPSCB grants licence under Water and Air act.
The Board has listed out conditions to operate mines now, which the mining firms need to implement before resuming mining operations.
It includes monitoring of water quality, both upstream and downstream the mining area along with monitoring of air quality and carrying out ore transportation in compliance with directions laid down by the Bombay High Court.
Mining operation in Goa was stopped in 2012 after Shah Commission had tabled its report in the Parliament, suspecting a scam of around Rs 35,000 crore.
After hearing the cases for almost two years, the apex court had lifted the ban last year.
However, environmental clearances of all sorts need to be sought by the lease holders before they start operations.
Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar has however claimed that mining would start by October, though sources in mining industry claim that it may not start till the price of ore comes to a comfortable position in the international market.
