House adopts resolution urging Centre to amend mining laws

NT NETWORK

 

PANAJI

The state legislative assembly on Friday unanimously passed a resolution urging the central government to suitably amend the Goa, Daman and Diu Mining Concessions (Abolition and Declaration as Mining Leases) Act, 1987, so that iron ore mining resumes in the state.

Ruling and Opposition legislators unanimously supported the private member’s resolution moved by BJP MLA Nilesh Cabral on the floor of the House emphasising that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar should use his friendship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press for amending the Goa, Daman and Diu Mining Concessions (Abolition and Declaration as Mining Leases) Act, 1987 for the early resumption of mining operations in the interest of the state and mining dependent people.

Speaking on the resolution, Parrikar told the House that on August 7 he will be meeting in Delhi the group of ministers appointed by the Prime Minister to look into the mining matter and will put forth the demand to amend the act.

The Chief Minister said that he will explain to the ministerial group every aspect of Goa’s mining tangle.

In February this year, the Supreme Court quashed 88 mining leases in the state, and since then the mining dependants have been pressurising the government for the early restart of mining activities.

The SC halt to the mining activities came into force on March 16, 2018.

Cabral in his resolution said the state government should urge the Centre to take appropriate steps to suitably amend the particular act, making it applicable prospectively with effect from May 23, 1987 – that is the day it was enacted – instead of retrospective effect from December 20, 1961, so as to enable the current mining leases to remain operational up to

the year 2037 and continue to aid the economic growth of Goa and its people.

Furthermore it demanded that the central government should also amend the MMDR Act, 1957 in such a way as to give the benefit of the 50-year tenures, introduced retrospectively in 2015 by way of Section 8A (3), to the mining concessions in Goa which though had been converted into mining leases only in the year 1987 were given a fictional date of grant of 1961, “so as to allow collection of dead rent and royalty for the past by the government of India”.

Parrikar assured the House that he would do his best to convince the central government to bring in amendments to the act so that the mining activities resume in the state, adding that he will give guarantee that the mining matter will get a proper direction by September-October this year.

Referring to the halt to the mining in 2012, Parrikar said that he had then stopped the industry to ‘regularise’ and save it from illegalities. However, later the ban was imposed by the Supreme Court which was lifted in 2015.

“There is no possibility of occurrence of illegalities in the mining industry in the current situation as international prices for ore have been on downswing compared to the 2012 situation. I am still opposing the illegalities. I still stand by what I had said then,” Parrikar maintained.

“There is no need for the government to move a resolution. The government can take up the issue with the central government. But I wanted to get a sense of the House on the issue,” he clarified.

The legislators who spoke on the resolution were Ravi Naik, Churchill Alemao, Filipe Nery Rodrigues, Deepak Pauskar, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, Prasad Gaonkar, Pratapsingh Rane, Rajesh Patnekar, Luizinho Faleiro, Milind Naik, Nilkanth Halarnkar, Alina Saldanha, Isidore Fernandes, Clafacio Dias, Digambar Kamat, Dayanand Sopte, Subhash Shirodkar, Michael Loba and Chandrakant Kavlekar.