Panaji: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who also holds the Mines portfolio, told the Assembly on Thursday that an assumed figure of about ₹35,000 crore loss to the State exchequer on account of illegal mining was found to be not correctly projected.
In a written reply to a question by Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, during the Question Hour, Mr. Parrikar said more than five years after the illegal mining scam was handed over to the police, the investigation is not complete. “The other illegal acts are being investigated on case-to-case basis.”
Mining in Goa was stopped by the State government and the Centre in 2012 following a ₹35,000-crore scam, which was unearthed by the M.B. Shah Commission.
Later in the year, the Supreme Court had banned all mining activity following a public interest litigation filed by Goa Foundation, a local green group, demanding action against illegal and irregular mining.
Several leading mining companies and ore traders were indicted in the report of the commission, which has also pointed out a politician-bureaucrat-mining companies nexus leading to losses to the State exchequer in ore extraction and exports. Many politicians, including former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, are under the police probe while some officials like former director Arvind Lolienkar stand suspended.
Mr. Parrikar’s reply said that a differential global positioning system survey conducted by the State had revealed that surface disturbance outside lease hold areas were less than 10 hectares as against 578 hectares mentioned in the commission report.
“The Comptroller Auditor General has not quantified the losses from the 88 operational leases. The report has directed the State to assess the actual loss to the State from each mine and other illegal mining based on ground realities by a team of experts with the latest 3D laser measurement equipment,” Mr. Parrikar said.
