PANJIM: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chaired by the leader of the opposition, Mr Manohar Parrikar, on Friday, directed the department of mines to make use of its powers under Section 23(C) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, so as to formulate rules for putting a leash on illegal mining in the state, and come out with the related order or notification at the earliest.
The states around the country, under the particular Section have been given powers to frame rules for curbing illegal mining and regulating transportation as well as storage of minerals.
Addressing a press conference in his chamber at the Goa legislative assembly complex, after holding a hearing with the officials of the department of mines, the leader of the opposition said that the Public Accounts Committee is seized of the year 2005-2006 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, which indicated a royalty loss to the state exchequer as linked to around 1 crore tonne of mineral between the period 2003 and 2005.
“This amounted to a loss of around ` 20 to 25 crore, as per the rate of the mineral prevalent at that time,” he added, pointing out that the officials of the department of mines, when asked to come out with related justification, expressed their inability to explain the gaps in the revenue by way of royalty on the mineral.
Speaking further, Mr Parrikar said that the legal mines operational in Goa are not regulated by the department of mines, and hence the DoM officials were told to enforce some regulations for the time being, until the State Mining Policy comes out.
“The moment legal mining is regulated in the state, the DoM will be able to trace the illegal mines easily,” he noted.
“The reports from the district Collectors inform about 15,000-odd trucks regularly carrying mining extract on roads in the Sanvordem-Sanguem-Rivona belt, and to make the matters worse, the conditions of these roads are pathetic,” the leader of the opposition added, stating that as per the rough estimate of the PAC, at least 25 per cent of the drivers of these trucks have no licenses.
“The committee has already directed the enforcers of the law to act sternly against such unlicensed drivers without favour or fear,” Mr Parrikar mentioned, pointing out that a review sub-committee headed by the Fatorda MLA, Mr Damodar Naik will follow up these directions. “In addition, district Collectors have been told to enforce legal provisions, as also the Deputy Inspector General of Police directed to put up a special officer for the purpose,” he revealed, further stressing that only those many trucks, which the available roads can endure, would be allowed to run on them.
The leader of the opposition also maintained that after the mineral transportation between Goa and Karnataka was banned by the Karnataka government, a number of trucks involved in this transportation flooded Goa.
“And many of the drivers of these trucks are untrained, thus turning the vehicles into murder vehicles,” he observed.
On a parting note, Mr Parrikar said that there has been definitely loss of revenue to the state government due to illegal mining, and that there was no proper infrastructure with the department of mines to control the same.
“Apart from illegal mining, the two aspects which hound the people are overloading of mining vehicles and their unlicensed drivers, which should be tackled on priority,” he concluded. Replying to a question, Mr Parrikar retorted that the current Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat was the Minister for Mines during the Bharatiya Janata Party regime in the state.
It is shocking, indeed it is sad, that very often one has to seek recourse to the Courts of Justice to ensure that the Government does its work towards the people. We now find the Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, who is the Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, directing the department of mines to use its powers to formulate rules, and come out with related order or notification, to put a leash on illegal mining. Needless to say, the State has been given the powers to frame such rules for curbing illegal mining, but it was left to the Leader of Opposition to tell the Government to use the powers it has been conferred with.
ReplyDeleteAs I have said before, it is quite likely that, by a stroke of the pen, IL-legal becomes IS-legal.