Centre will soon resolve mining issue: Goa CM Pramod Sawant

‘Hopeful’ CM said that the central government would be able to find a solution to Goa’s mining imbroglio and assured that in the interim his government would work to resume some activity.

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said he was ‘hopeful’ the central government would be able to find a solution to Goa’s mining imbroglio and assured that in the interim his government would work to resume some activity, even if fresh extraction of ore cannot begin.

Speaking in the Goa Assembly, Sawant said that some kind of via media would have to be found. (PTI file photo)

Speaking in the Goa Assembly, Sawant said that some kind of via media would have to be found.

“Instructions have already been given to restart the e-auctions and within the next 15-20 days e-auctions will restart. We are of the belief that even if fresh extraction does not start, at least some mining activities can resume,” Sawant said.

E-auctions or electronic auctions are being held as per the instructions of the Supreme Court which in its 2012 order banned mining in Goa and ruled that all iron ore lying at the leases, yards and jetties would be confiscated and auctioned to the highest bidder.

The government’s auctioning process, which began in 2013, however received poor response owing to a dip in iron ore prices in the international market.

Sawant also said that he had taken up the matter of dump mining with the central government during a meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah last week and that he would finalise the mining dump policy with a view to start mining dumps within the next six months.

In February last year, the SC had ruled that Goa’s mining leases had expired in 2007 and the renewals granted by state government in 2015 were ‘null’.