Govt defends ore transportation decision

GOVT RESPONSE ON ORE EXTRACTION >>
* The Chief Secretary said that the amount of ore extracted within that period was 2.25 million tons * Which was less than half the material which was extracted in the same period the previous year
ON TRANSPORTATION OF
ROYALTY-PAID ORE
* SC order had no prohibition for carrying out transportation of royalty paid ore taken out from the leasehold areas up to March 15
* After March 16 not even a single ton of ore was moved out of the 88 leases in the State of Goa
ON DUMPING OUTSIDE
LEASEHOLD AREA
* The storage of royalty-paid ore outside the leasehold area in a stockyard or storage point was never an issue decided by the SC in its order of 2014
* The order dealt with ‘waste dumps’ and not ore to be stored for later sale
* The petitioner in a public interest litigation should guide the court properly
ON VACATION OF LEASES
BY THE LEASEHOLDERS
* The leaseholders have surface rights in addition to subsurface rights over the ore which now belongs to the government.
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PANAJI: The State Government on Wednesday filed its affidavit before the Bombay High Court at Goa challenging the contentions raised by the Goa Foundation which alleged that the State Government’s decision to allow transport of ore after March 16 was patently illegal.
The Chief Secretary, who filed the affidavit defended the government’s decision and said that the Goa Foundation’s contentions are based on a ‘misreading’ and ‘erroneous’ interpretation of the judgement of the Supreme Court.
“The direction of the SC is that the leaseholders should stop all ‘mining operations’ from March 16… the words ‘mining operations’ cannot be construed generally to including everything with any kind of mining activity… in terms of mining law, it is well settled [that] mining operations means conducting any activity for the purpose of winning the material, transportation is a different process by which ore is transported,” the Chief Secretary said in his affidavit quoting from provisions of the MMDR Act in force.
The Chief Secretary said the Goa Foundation, is trying to contend that the words ‘mining operations’ used by the Supreme Court, had directed the stoppage of all mining operations from March 16, no transportation of ore from the 88 mining leases should be permitted.
Replying to the contention of the Goa Foundation that the State government allowed ‘vast’ quantity of ore to be extracted between February 7 and March 15, the Chief Secretary said that the amount of ore extracted within that period was 2.25 million tons which was less than half the material which was extracted in the same period the previous year when there was no sword of a deadline hanging over the heads of the miners.
“Even if the production capacity of 20 million tons of capped quantity is distributed month wise taking eight months of mining, then for this period the production could have been 3.1 million tons,” the Chief Secretary said concluding that the Goa Foundation’s use of the term was “impressionistic and anecdotal.”
With regard to the allegation that the government allowed the dumping of ore outside the leasehold area, despite the SC disallowing such dumping, the CS said that the “storage of royalty paid ore outside the leasehold area in a stockyard or storage point was never an issue decided by the SC in its order of 2014.
Instead, the CS pointed out, that the order dealt with ‘waste dumps’ and not ore to be stored for later sale. “The petitioner in a public interest litigation should guide the court properly,” the CS said.
The Government’s affidavit also rebuts the allegation that the Department of Mines and Geology facilitated the “advance payment of royalty on these vast quantities” likely exceeding 1 million tons in order to enable the erstwhile leaseholders to claim ownership of the extracted ore and proceeds for its export after March 15.”
“In view of the clear legal scheme and well-monitored system, there is no space for speculative allegations of the department…” the Chief Secretary said elaborating the entire system of how the ore movement is monitored, at which stage royalty is paid through a digital system.
With regard to the allegation that the government compromised the ‘safety of communities’ surrounding the mining leases as they allowed mining till the midnight of March 15, the CS has said that safety was the shared responsibility of not only the leaseholders but also the government and pointed that only one of the 88 mines undertook extraction on March 15, and extracted 5164 tons of ore that day and that the pollution limits were within permissible limits at that mine on that day.
With regard to the statement of the Goa Foundation that the leaseholders will have to vacate the leases, the Chief Secretary pointed out that in almost all cases, “the leaseholders have surface rights in addition to subsurface rights over the ore which now belongs to the government.
Finally, the Chief Secretary said that the SC order had no prohibition for carrying out transportation of royalty paid ore taken out from the leasehold areas up to March 15 and that after March 16 not even a single ton of ore is moved out of the 88 leases in the State of Goa.
“In fact, most of the ore quantity which was outside the lease as on March 16, was extracted much prior to the ban period hence there is absolutely no collusion as alleged,” he said.
The matter has been kept for disposal on April 24.