PANAJI | Jun 22, 2015: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) will decide on the consent applications under Air and Water Act for altogether 44 mines in the state, on July 10. A GSPCB team has already completed the inspection of these 44 mining leases.Chairman of the GSPCB Jose Manuel Noronha told ‘The Navhind Times’ on Sunday that a meeting of the technical advisory committee of the Board has been convened on July 10. “The report of the inspection team would be placed before this committee and decision taken as regards the consent under Air and Water Act, for these mines,” he added.
Noronha also said that the members of the GSPCB usually meet every three months, however, a special meeting has been convened on July 10, so that the decision about the 44 mines could come fast. He further said that all kinds of mining – from sand to mineral ore – require clearance from the Board.
It may be recalled that the GSPCB team had inspected the mining plans, transportation routes and collected samples from water bodies located around the 44 mines. The team has also identified few places in each of these mining areas, for installing an ambient air quality monitoring station. The inspected mines are located at various places from Advalpale and Sirigao in North Goa to Sanguem in South Goa.
The inspection followed the memorandum issued to the GSPCB, by director of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change V P Upadhyay. The memorandum had asked the Board to ensure adherence to all the terms and conditions laid down by the Ministry, while granting the consent to the mines to operate. One of the conditions in the memorandum is that the Board should not grant ‘consent to operate’ to those mines using village roads for transportation of iron ore.
Earlier, the GSPCB has decided to inspect and consider only 44 out of the 61 mining leases that had been allowed fresh ore extraction, as legality of 17 others had been challenged before the Board. However, after obtaining a legal opinion, the Board is now likely to inspect these 17 mines.
(Source: http://www.navhindtimes.in/)