E-Paper
Blacklist illegal miners in Goa: Green NGOs write to Centre
The Goa Foundation has said that it is eager to ensure that those involved in illegal mining are not allowed to participate in auctions to acquire fresh leases.
A group of environmental NGOs including the Goa Foundation, Common Cause, Mineral Inheritors Rights’ Association and others have written to the Union government seeking to blacklist those involved in ‘illegal mining’ from taking part in auctions and those offences be treated at par with offences under other economic laws such as FERA.
“Misappropriation of the shared inheritance of mineral wealth, anyone convicted for illegal mining should be disqualified under a variety of laws, including the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and the Economic Offences (Inapplicability of Limitation) Act, 1974,” the NGOs said in their letter to Union Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi and Comptroller and Auditor General Girish Chandra Murmu
The demand is significant especially since the Goa government has indicated it is willing to for the first time begin auctions to grant new leases to help restart mining in the state that has been stalled since the Supreme Court rejected lease renewals by the Goa government in March 2018.
The Goa Foundation has said that it is eager to ensure that those involved in illegal mining are not allowed to participate in auctions to acquire fresh leases.
“With the rise of illegal miners in the country, there are no adequate mechanisms to hold them accountable and undertake stringent actions such as blacklisting them from any mining activity. Any one violation whether it is economic, environmental, or social by the entity must be a good enough reason to disqualify the miners on the basis of questionable integrity and they should be prevented from managing our shared inheritance of mineral wealth,” the NGOs said.
“The government instead of using a fit and proper test to screen mining companies and pre-empting illegal mining in the first place has changed the definition of illegality. This has emboldened all illegal miners...”, Sreedhar Ramamurthi, Managing Trustee of the Environics Trust said.
“Illegal mining has been associated with terrorism finance within India. Illegal mining under the MMDR Act must be included in Part A of the Schedule of the PMLA,” the organisations said in their letter.
The NGOs have pointed out that under the IBC, 2016 those convicted of any offence are punishable by imprisonment for two or more years under any Act specified in the Twelfth Schedule which includes most economic laws but does not include the Mines and Minerals Development Act.
“The MMDR Act must be included in the Twelfth Schedule of the IBC,” the NGOs have demanded.
Earlier this week, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced that the state government had roped in State Bank of India to help auction a bunch of leases that were being auctioned via the newly created Goa Mineral Development Corporation to help restart mining.
The Supreme Court in 2108 ruled that if mining in Goa is to restart, fresh leases will have to be given along with fresh environmental clearances and not renewals of existing leases.
The mining industry was a major revenue and employment generator for the state and at its peak contributed close to 15% of the state’s GDP.
