PANAJI
The State Cabinet on Friday decided to clear handling of iron ore dumps in Goa giving the all clear to the 'Mineral Dump Auction Policy', which will allow mining companies and erstwhile lease-holders who have paid the transfer fee for dumps in their own properties to handle and sell it.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant who addressed a post-Cabinet press conference said, preliminary estimates indicate that there are dumps which aggregately amount to about 20 million tonnes of formerly rejected ore.
The State government had already framed the policy to manage these dumps and on Friday the Cabinet approved it with minor modifications incorporated.
The Cabinet decision is expected to earn the government a revenue of around Rs 200 crores, Sawant said adding that the rules for the e-auction have also been modified and some of the restrictions as to who can participate in the auction have been dropped.
Earlier, the Cabinet had originally approved this crucial policy on handling mining dumps in September last year. It was announced then, that the government will conduct the auction of minerals in the land corresponding to the cases which were being investigated by the SIT. Also, the erstwhile mining lease-holders who had paid royalty were allowed to auction the dump for a period of 5 years.
