Says membership at stake if found guilty

PANJIM: Goa’s apex industrial body Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry has declared that ‘all those involved in illegal mining should be brought to book’ and if any member of the chamber is found to be involved in illegal mining his membership will automatically cease to exist, as per the constitution of the body.’

Iron ore mining in Goa is expected to begin by August this year, an industry body said today. "We feel that mining will begin by August this year.

Even as the Karnataka government is readying to send lease termination notices to Category C mine owners following the Supreme Court (SC) order of last month, some of the leaseholders are planning

The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) on Tuesday ruled out allowing export of iron ore pellets from Karnataka-based miners.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) made a scathing attack against the Supreme Court's Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC) for letting off the most corrupt without any or little punishment

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought response from the environment ministry and others on an application filed by Sesa Goa seeking permission to transport, sell and export 4.766 million tonne of already mined iron ore lying at various locations in Goa.

A special green bench headed by Justice TS Thakur issued notice to the Centre, Central Empowered Committee (CEC), which is assisting the apex court in environmental matters, and Goa Foundation, the NGO on whose plea blanket ban on mining operations was imposed last year in the state.

The state government on Friday proposed a buffer zone of up to 1 km around wildlife sanctuaries (WLS) and national parks (NP) in the state.

PANJIM: Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has constituted 11 members Expert Appraisal Committee to examine issues relating to both, environment clearances of iron ore mining leases and illegal handling of dumps in Goa.

The Appraisal Committee, chaired by ex-secretary MoEF, Vishwanath Anand, has been directed to submit its report within three months by making case to case recommendations to MoEF.

PANJIM: The Justice MB Shah Commission's third report on illegal mining in Goa will be drafted only after the Supreme Court verdict on the petition on illegal mining in Goa is out and it will address issues of illegalities involved in transfer of leases and illegal ore exports specifically in the last five or six years before all mining in Goa was halted by the highest court in the land.

Talking to Herald, Justice Shah said that he will begin "drafting the report only after the apex court clearance", and that the report would only come out after the Supreme Court order. “We are waiting for the SC to pass its verdict on the petition filed in illegal mining in Goa,” he said.

PANJIM: The State government will file its reply on the buffer zone of wild life sanctuaries before the Supreme Court and a copy to this will be sent to Union Ministry of Forest and Environment, department officials said.

The Union ministry had recently accused the Goa government of not replying to its queries and asked the Supreme Court to direct it to do the needful. “We are filing our say. The file has been approved,” Principal chief conservator of forests Richard D’ Souza told Herald, adding that they would file the reply before the Supreme Court and the MoEF.