~ By SteelMint Bureau/Meera Mohanty
The Goa government, finally moving towards auction of iron ore mines, has issued notices to the erstwhile lessees giving them a month to clear their equipment and material from their leaseholds.
The move is a big blow to Goa’s mining companies including Anil Agarwal’s Sesa Goa that has carried a long campaign to revive its mines in the state.
A senior government official told SteelMint that notices invoking Rule 12 (1) (hh) of the Mineral Concession Rules 2016 – under which the lessee gets a month to remove its material and equipment – had been issued to lessees of the 88 contested mines. Their month starts from 6 May 2022 which gives them about a month before the onset of the monsoon.
These 88 mines, include those held by Sesa Goa, Chowgule, VM Salgaocar and those operated by Sociedade De Fomento. The state government had run into trouble renewing these mines, running under deemed provisions, in the run up to the amendment of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 2015. With its insistence on auctions as the only means of allocating mining rights, the Centre was unmoved by the state’s requests for a legislative cure. So was the Supreme Court(SC) which refused to entertain the state’s application for a review of its earlier judgement.
The BJP government elected last month in Goa, has promised to restart mining. It had spoken of a state-run corporation and a mining dump policy, but dilly dallied on auctions. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, leading a majority government in his second term, seems to have finally bit the bullet.
While some of the lessees claim hereditary right to these areas, a position that the state had earlier acknowledged, the government believes with the SC setting aside its petition these areas are free for grabs. The Goa government will also be notifying five areas, outside of these 88, for auction very soon said a government official.
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