Govt drags its feet on recovery of mining loot

NT NETWORK

 

PANAJI

The government, it looks like, has not made any serious move in recovering the Rs 1,500 crore owed to the state exchequer by iron ore mining leaseholders.

Just one demand notice seeking the recovery of Rs 97.5 crore, so far, has been issued by the directorate of mines to the mining company Vedanta, leaving the other leaseholders scot-free in the recovery process.

On Tuesday, mines director Prasanna Acharya said  that in the last few months show-cause notices were sent to all mining leaseholders found to be indulging in illegal mining, and hearings were also conducted.

But no demand notices were  issued  to any of them, except for Vedanta.

He said the government is seeking legal opinion from the advocate general before issuing further demand notices to leaseholders.

“For Vedanta, the case was clear as the company paid royalty on dry metric tonne instead of wet metric tonne. But for other leaseholders the dues are of different types which we are yet to be determined.” Acharya indicated that the

department has not yet got down to categorising the head under which leaseholders will be charged for recovery.

Even the demand notice issued to Vedanta has hit a roadblock with the company contesting the amount.

“We are seeking legal opinion on Vedanta,” said the mines director.

The demand notice was issued to Vedanta on August 28 and the company was given 21 days to repay the amount, of which the principal amount of Rs 54.6 crore had to be paid in 14 days and interest of Rs 43 crore in the next seven days.

While issuing the demand notice, the department of mines appeared to have taken a firm stance as the notice said, “Mere collection of dues will not absolve the company from any civil or criminal action,” but it soft-pedalled during the payment time.

The company had wrongly calculated royalty on 20,76,746 tonne on the ore extracted during the period 2011- 2013.

Goa’s loss from the mining scam has been  estimated at Rs 35,000 crore by the Justice Shah Commission report.

However, the 22 teams of chartered accountants appointed after the Shah Commission pegged the loss caused by the mining scam at about Rs 1,500 crore.

The CA audit report estimated the loss from 12 leaseholders who indulged in excess mining during the period 2006-2012.

A special investigative team was also set up to estimate the loss from mining scam.

The SIT is probing the irregularities committed by government officials, traders and mining companies.