Goa CM Pramod Sawant must explain how ore reserves declined: GFP president Vijai Sardesai

PANAJI: Chief minister Pramod Sawant needs to explain how Goa’s iron ore reserves declined from 2 billion tonnes in 2013 to 260 million tonnes of iron ore as on date, said Goa Forward Party (GFP).
GFP president Vijai Sardesai said that Goa’s iron ore mineral reserves cannot simply “evaporate” over such a short span of time.
Sardesai said that if the Government Accounting Standard Advisory Board (GASAB)’s data is true, then Goa will run out of iron ore within the next 10 years. The GASAB released its Compendium of State Asset Accounts on Mineral and Energy Resources which claims that only 260 million tonnes of iron ore remains in the state.
“In April 2013, in the Goa Legislative Assembly, the then chief minister Manohar Parrikar had said that Goa has two billion tonnes of iron ore reserves. He also quoted an estimate prepared by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), according to whom, it was estimated to be around 1.1 billion tonnes,” he said.Claiming to be “shocked” with the GASAB’s findings, Sardesai said that under the garb of e-auctioning, illegal excavation and sale of ore was being carried out.