The mining policy, if implemented ruthlessly will have tworelated fallouts. Illegal mining rogues will be cut to size and discipline willbe brought into a highly in disciplined sector.
The buzz that emanates from virtually every page of thepolicy is controls. Controls from the point of extraction to the point ofexport at every stage, controls which are rigid and punitive, and controls thatare extensive and intrusive. There will be a watch of the mining departmentinside the mine, outside the mine, at the barge loading point, on the barge andat the export point with full details of the destination of the ore. Clearlynothing will be left to chance with no possibility of the repeat of the horrorstories of 2010-11 where 7 million tonnes of exports were unaccounted for,armed with NOCs from the mines department based on false data on the source ofore. The department in turn had no will or capability of verifying informationon the basis of which NOCs for exports were given.
The controls in this mining policy, starts with the cappingof exports to 45 million tons, which includes the mining and export of dumpscapped at 25 million tons a year. You cannot move away from the fact that 700million tons of material lie in dumps all over Goa, spread over a 1000 acres.Let us forget economies for a bit and understand that the removal of thesedumps at the rate of 25 million tons per year will free up land which has to begiven back to agriculture. This is not a matter of choice lot need anymore.It’s a matter of policy.
Clearing dumps will now be a necessity and it will cost a feeof Rs 200 per ton of dump cargo for dumps within mining leases. Dumps in forestareas will attract an auction price and royalty in addition to the fee. Fordumps in private areas, the exporter will have to pay a land conversion chargeas per the land revenue code, the royalty and the fee. If the dump is ingovernment land, an occupancy fee has to be paid in addition to royalty and thefee. The back of the book revenue expectation to the state annually from dumpmining and exports alone will be Rs 600 crores.
All this has made mining extremely very expensive for the flyby night operator who will not get the benefit of a dig and run theft operationany more. At the same time there is clarity that mining activities need tosustain the state’s economy and there is indeed no ambiguity. This needs to beread with the fact this has to be sustainable. This paragraph inthe policy sums this up. “Dependence on mining presents extreme externalitiesand the state has to tread cautiously promoting a sustainable extraction regimeto facilitate systematic, scientific and planned utilsation of mineralresources and to streamline mineral based development of the state, keeping inview, protection of environment, health and safety of the people in and aroundthe mining areas rather than race to bottom.”
The Chief Minister ManoharParrikar has ensured that one way to dothis is to make those who are seriously in the business pay more to the state.There is a greater emphasis is ploughing back mining revenues into non miningareas like agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and women and childwelfare. This is perhaps the biggest take away of the mining policy.
In financial year ended March 31, 2011 mining revenuescontributed to 980 crores to the revenues of the state which is around 18% ofthe tax and non tax revenues together. That will go up substantially. The bigwindfall will be the stamp duty of Rs 2 lakh per ton of EC clearance for theregistration of leases. Taking 40 million tons of exports as the base, the one-timerevenue from stamp duty which will come upfront is Rs 800 crores approx. Thisadded to the Rs 600 crore revenues from dump exports (fees, royalty, auctionprice, land conversion charges etc) will add Rs 1400 crores to the governmentkitty. Add to this about Rs 1000 crores from royalty on ore export, you have Rs2500 crores in the exchequer this year from the mining industry.
A back of the hand calculation reveals that this is morethan 35% of the state’s annual revenues, which were pegged at Rs 5500 crores lastyear.
What this policy has done is to mandate that wealthgenerated from mining is shared with the people of Goa in an inclusive andcontrolled manner. The bottom line is that we now have a direction which willhopefully extract thieves out and development in.
