the goan I network
PANAJI
Ducking a direct response on when and how Goa’s long-pending iron ore mining imbroglio will be resolved and the crucial sector revived, Union Mines Minister Prahlad Joshi on Monday said a “workable solution” will be evolved soon.
Joshi said a Group of Ministers has been constituted headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, which also has the Home Minister Amit Shah.
“Very shortly we are going to arrive at a decision,” Joshi said, adding that the GOM has been meeting regularly and constantly following up with senior bureaucrats from all the related ministries.
“Mines are set to be closed as per the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act and the Supreme Court order by 2020. At that time, there will be a crisis. GoM is working very seriously to sort out this issue also,” Joshi told reporters.
When grilled by reporters about the delay in deciding on the Goa specific mining issue, Joshi attributed the delay to the complexity of the imbroglio as it involved Court judgements. He also said that elections after the 2018 Judgement of Supreme Court about mining in Goa also handicapped the Central government in working out a solution.
“After 2018 judgement, this issue became more complex and then there were general elections. After 2019 elections
a government is in place, a GoM has been formed after Goa Chief Minister met me in Delhi and officers are working seriously on the issue. We will come to a decision soon,” Joshi said.
“Previously, there was no GoM and there were no senior ministers involved in this. Now, all these Union ministers are also involved and the problem (resumption of Goa mining) will be solved very shortly,” Joshi added.
When asked if the MMDR would be amended again to find a way to resolve the mining crisis in Goa and to circumvent the collective expiry of mining leases in 2020, Joshi was non-committal, saying: “I cannot disclose because the GoM is seized of the matter. We are very, very positive about it, because it impacts the economy of Goa and the country also”.
Goa’s mining sector got grounded since March 2018 after a Supreme Court judgement struck down a Goa government decision to renew some 88 mining leases and held them illegal. The order also directed stoppage of all mining activity in the State from mid-March last year.
It however directed the State to begin the process of re-issuing leases under the new MMDR Act which mandated grant of leases by a process of auction, which the local industry active since prior to liberation of Goa from Portugues colonial rule has resisted citing a pending Supreme Court case challeging the law abolishing the pre-lease mining concessions.
Joshi however refused to go into the details of the proposals being considered by the GOM to work out a solution to the imbroglio.
1 When asked if the MMDR would be amended again to find a way to resolve the mining crisis in Goa and to circumvent the collective expiry of mining leases in 2020, Joshi was non-committal, saying: “I cannot disclose because the GoM is seized of the matter. We are very, very positive about it, because it impacts the economy of Goa and the country also”
2 When grilled by reporters about the delay in deciding on the Goa specific mining issue, Joshi attributed the delay to the complexity of the imbroglio as it involved Court judgements. He also said that elections after the 2018 Judgement of Supreme Court about mining in Goa also handicapped the Central government in working out a solution
