The BJP government in Goa led by chief minister Manohar Parrikar has begun acting on its promise to curb illegal iron ore mining less than a month after coming to power.
By mid-May, the state mines department will classify 90 working mines into three categories based on their legal status. Only those with requisite permissions will be allowed to extract and export ore.
“We also want to verify if firms are extracting low-grade ore from dumps containing ore that had been rejected earlier,” said Prasanna Acharya, new director of mines and geology.
Earlier in the week, Parrikar, who holds the mining portfolio, suspended ex-mines director Arvind Loliyekar for allegedly failing to act against illegal mining.
In a series of reports last year, HT had revealed that the public accounts committee chaired by Parrikar had found that illegal mining had cost Goa Rs3,000 crore, though some estimates peg the loss at Rs10,000 crore.
The government has also bann-ed handling of old dumps till further notice, and the licences of 461 mining traders in Goa have been suspended for 15 days until document verification is complete.