OVERLOADED MINING TRUCKS TO BE DEALT WITH: CM

PANJIM: The Goa Government is working on a legislation to cancel leases of mines whose trucks are found to be overloaded with ore. Stringent measures, including cancellation of leases, are being considered in legislation to curb the increasing menace of overloaded mining trucks which create dust pollution in villages, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat said.

The state has been witnessing protests on a regular basis by the locals who complain about frequent accidents involving mining trucks and dust pollution caused by overloaded vehicles transporting ore from mines.

Goa has 100-odd operational mines which export around 40 million MT iron ore annually. As per rough estimates, 20,000 trucks operate in mines across the state.

"There should be proper control by Transport and Mines Department on these trucks. There are enough powers with these departments to book erring truck operators," Leader of the Opposition Manohar Parrikar said.

Goa Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by Parrikar, has recommended that the permits of the trucks found overloading should be cancelled immediately.  PAC has also said that the Mines Department should be the regulating authority for mining trucks, whose drivers should be registered with the Department.

"There are several truck drivers who operate without valid licence. If the Mines Department initiates a process to regulate them, everyone will have to have a driving licence," Parrikar said.

The Leader of the Opposition also alleged that several drivers with criminal antecedents from neighbouring states were operating mining trucks in Goa. The trucks carry ore from the mining sites to a jetty, where it is offloaded into a ship which carries it to a transship for export.

Transport Department Director Arun Desai said they have already started penalising erring drivers. "In the last one month alone, we have penalised around 500 truck drivers," he said, but conceded that the drive has failed to imbibe discipline amongst them.

"We need more stringent measures and that's why the Chief Minister is thinking to cancel permits of the mines or at least of the trucks, if they are found violating the rules," Desai added.

Traffic jams caused due to mining trucks has been a regular affair in the state's remote talukas. Kamat, during the last budget session, had assured to construct separate corridors that would let the trucks bypass thickly populated areas. Desai said the work on mining corridors is in process. – PTI