PANJIM | Jul 05, 2016: The Union Mines Ministry has directed the Goa government to constitute a three member committee to scrutinize pending iron ore mineral concession applications. There are three applications pending before the State.

A circular issued to Secretary Mines Manoj Sahoo states that as per the Mines and Minerals Development Regulation (MMDR) amendment 2015, all applications for grant of mineral concessions became ineligible on January 12, 2015 except those which were saved under Section 10A (2).

“Section 10A (2) (b) of the Amendment Act clearly states that before the commencement of the amendment, a reconnaissance permit or prospecting licence has been granted in respect of any land for any mineral, the permit holder or the licensee shall have a right for obtaining a prospecting license followed by a mining lease, in respect of that mineral in the land,” the Ministry said in its communication. “Decision on these saved proposals to be taken at the earliest by this Ministry,” it added.

Speaking to Herald, Sahoo confirmed that the Ministry has directed that a committee be constituted comprising of Director of Mines, an official of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and Deputy Director General of Geological Survey of India (GSI) to scrutinize the proposals before sending them to the Ministry.

“There are three such proposals pending before the State; however, two are in legal battle,” he said adding that ‘one case is pending before the Supreme Court since 1992 and another case has an issue related to surface rights’.

“As such only one application is mostly likely to be considered. It belongs to Zafar & Sons,” Sahoo said. The government has already directed the applicant to submit a Digital Global Positioning map of the lease area. “The same would be scrutinized and sent to IBM for approval and then to the Union Ministry,” the IAS official said.

The State has currently allowed 89 mining lease to operate with an annual extraction limit of 15 million tonnes. There are 349 non-working mining leases.

Apart from Goa, proposals are also pending from States like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.

(Source: http://www.heraldgoa.in/)