PANAJI
The South Goa District Mineral Foundation (South-DMF) has declined to fund the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) to undertake drone survey of iron ore mining leases in South.
The recently held Governing Council meeting of the DMF, headed by the District Collector South, also turned down the proposal for undertaking inventory of emission sources in the port town Vasco, commercial city Margao, mining areas of Sanvordem and Sanguem and in Canacona.
During the meeting, GSPCB had moved a total five proposals worth Rs 6.30 crore. However, the members of the committee were of the clear view that all the proposals cannot be taken up under the Trust.
The pollution authority had proposed to undertake drone survey of mining leases in the South at an estimated cost of Rs 47.67 lakh. Also, the source emission survey was proposed at a cost of Rs 1.22 crore.
However, the Foundation was not in favour of spending huge amounts of the money only on baseline data collection. It directed the Board to come up with a revised proposal for consideration.
The meeting approved two other proposals related to monitoring Ambient Air Quality and Water quality of the mining affected areas in the district at an estimated cost of over Rs 30.77 lakh.
