PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Saturday said that four mining blocks, auctioned in the first phase, are likely to begin mining activity in the current financial year. Speaking at the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting, Sawant said the government has taken steps for auctioning of iron ore mineral blocks to resume the long-banned iron ore operations at the earliest.“The first auction of four iron ore mineral blocks has been successfully completed in December 2022 and the government received an upfront payment of Rs 43 crores from them. It is expected that these four mineral blocks may start mining activity in the financial year 2023-24,” he said.
The 2nd auction of five more mining blocks was also completed in April 2023.
The CM further said that the government is in the process of evolving a policy for handling iron dumps and that a dump profile study is planned to understand the nature of dumps in terms of their quality and quantity.
He further hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for assigning the highest number of nine G20 meetings and four SCO meetings to Goa stating that the State has turned these opportunities to promote Goa’s tourism industry. “The hospitality offered by the State has earned appreciation from Foreign Ministers as well as foreign delegates. Goa has turned into a vibrant and lively “G20-may” atmosphere due to these summits,” he said.
