MINING COMES TO A GRINDING HALT

e Supreme Court’s order.
The three-member Cabinet Advisory Committee which met for the first time on Wednesday, decided to recommend to the Chief Minister to file a review petition in the Supreme Court in a bid to clarify certain aspects of the order, especially regarding the shutdown date.
This despite Goa’s Advocate General advising against filing a curative petition in the Supreme Court of India in a bid to bring some form of temporary relief to those affected by the mining ban.

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ON FINAL DAY,
THE MAR 15TH

Leaseholders extracted a combined 5,164.25 metric tons of ore with transportation being allowed till 7 pm

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PANAJI: Mining machinery came to a grinding halt on Wednesday evening with the order of the Supreme Court of India declaring that the Goa Government’s renewal of 88 mining leases in 2015 was illegal.
On the final day of mining, March 15, leaseholders extracted a combined 5,164.25 metric tons of ore with transportation being allowed till 7pm on Thursday.
The order of the Supreme Court applies to all leases that were renewed by the state government in 2015 but the single mine that was renewed in 2007, has also been asked to shut operations until legal opinion on its status is ascertained by the state government.
In an order issued on March 12, the Director of Mines and Geology Prasanna Acharya allowed mining companies to transport ore right up to 7pm on September 15, modifying his earlier order which sought mining transport should cease on March 13 and all machinery should move out at 1pm on March 15.
“The leaseholders are allowed to continue their mining operations of extraction till March 15 under the supervision of Regional Controller of Mines, Indian Bureau of Mines, Margao. As regards transportation of ore outside the Leasehold area is concerned, the same shall be allowed till 7 pm on March 15 as transportation beyond 7pm is not allowed in the State of Goa,” Acharya had said.
Earlier, in keeping with directions issued by the Supreme Court, Director of Mines and Geology Prasanna Acharya has sent out instructions to his department officials and staff to begin the shutdown process of Goa’s mines as well as mine leaseholders to stop the fresh extraction of ore from March 13 at 6pm.
“A separate order with direction to all such leaseholders to stop the extraction of ore from March 13, 2018, is issued. However the inspecting teams should bring to the notice of officers and officials of such working leases about stoppage of extraction of ore by 6 pm on March 13, 2018,” Acharya said in his order to all deputy directors of mines while adding that the transportation of ore from stockyards, jetty or processing plants beyond March 14, of royalty paid ore, may continue.
With mining operations now shut down, the Mines Department has sealed the weighbridges which it monitors and no more ore transportation is allowed.
For the current season, according to the Directorate of Mines and Geology records, the Goa Ore Exporters have successfully extracted 10.05 million metric tons of ore for the season 2017-18 till March 15.
For the year 2016-17 which was the first full season after the mining ban was lifted, the ore exporters successfully extracted was 19.9800 million tons with the cap being set at 20 million metric tons.
The previous year the figure was 7.2960 million tons.

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Leaseholders asked to guard
mines at least till March 31

PANAJI: The Director of Mines and Geology Prasanna Acharya has notified the North and South Goa Superintendents of Police of the possibility of theft of iron ore from mining leases which are now cancelled even as he has asked the mining leaseholders to continue their security arrangements at the mining leases until alternate arrangements are in place.
“The Directorate of Mines and Geology is continuously monitoring the mining operations going on in the State and the said operations may go on till midnight of today March 15, 2018. Since the ore bodies from mines shall be exposed, there is a likelihood that such ore may be subjected to theft after March 16, until proper security arrangements are put in place,” Acharya said in his letter to the police officers.
“Though the regular inspections by the department shall continue, may I kindly request you to depute your officials or conduct regular inspections, site visits etc at the leasehold areas from March 16, so that no theft of ore either lying within the leasehold area or in the mining pits is subjected to theft which is the property of the State Government,” Acharya has requested.
In a communication sent to the leaseholders, Acharya has asked them to continue guarding the now ‘dead’ leases to prevent the theft of ore.
“As conveyed to you by Chief Secretary during the meeting held in his chamber yesterday (March 14), the importance of continuance of security measures/arrangements by you at leasehold area beyond March 16 must continue at least till March 31 or later till necessary security arrangements are made in that behalf to ensure that no ore from the leasehold area is subjected to theft being property of the State Government,” Acharya said.

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GADKARI
COMING

PANAJI: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari will arrive in the state to take stock of the situation in Goa arising out of the mining shut down and in a bid to hear the grievances of the mining affected people.
Sources familiar with the matter have informed that Gadkari will meet the mining dependents at 11am on March 20 at the Secretariat besides also meeting MLAs and others from the ruling dispensation, in a bid to assuage the seething masses peeved with the Government’s perceived inability to offer them any kind of relief or even attempt to offer them relief.
Gadkari is expected to spend the whole day in Goa before heading back to Delhi. 

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Mining dependents hold closed-door meets on ways to paralyse Goa

PONDA: Closed-door meetings are being convened by mining dependent associations in Ponda and Dharbandora talukas, to chalk out strategies to paralyse the State on account of suspension of mining activities in the State.
Expressing their apprehension over the present mining crisis, mining dependents from across the sectors and all over the State had threatened to paralyse the State if mining operations were not resumed.
With the mining operations coming to a halt, these mining dependents have begun to convene closed-door meetings to chalk out strategies to paralyse the State.
Sources informed The Goan that one such meeting was convened by truck operators at a hotel in Ponda, while a similar meeting was conducted by workers of garages and mining companies in a remote part of Dharbandora.
One mining dependent truck operator, who attended the closed-door meeting at Ponda told The Goan on condition of anonymity that they had discussed ways to paralyse the State.
"We will seek support of all mining dependents to achieve our goal. Once the meetings on March 16 and March 17 take place, we will soon paralyse the state,” the truck operator said.
A garage worker who attended the meeting at Dharbandora said they would support the truck owners in the agitation.
Sources also informed that workers along with garage owners and other mining dependents will join hands with truckers for a meeting on Saturday and they would also paralyse the State.
It may be recalled that the Supreme Court's order directing mining activity in Goa's 88 operational iron ore mining leases to be stopped after March 15 had prompted mining dependents to convene a meeting to discuss their future course of action.
According to mining dependents from Dharbandora Taluka, there are over 3,500 truckers from their area and over 5,000 workers associated with about seven mining companies.
Speaking to The Goan, Sanvordem Sarpanch Sandip Pawaskar said the mining crisis would affect around 3,500 families from Sanvordem constituency, engaged in ore transportation and over 5,000 workers employed in mining companies.

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South Goa truckers
to meet on Saturday

PONDA: The South Goa truckers have decided to convene a large meeting on Saturday morning at Tisk Sanvordem, a day after mining dependents from North Goa convene public meetings in Mayem and Honda.
As majority of mining dependents are from Dharbandora taluka, they decided to convene the meeting in the morning so that they are free to participate in Shigmo of Dharbandora Taluka scheduled at Mollem later in the evening.
Sanvordem Sarpanch Sandip Pawaskar confirmed to The Goan that the public meeting would be at Tisk-Sanvordem.