Goa mining loss projection of Rs 35k cr incorrect: Parrikar

The assumed loss of Rs 35,000 crore as projected by the Justice M.B. Shah Commission due to illegal mining in Goa is not a correct projection, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the state assembly on Thursday.

Parrikar, who also holds the Mines Ministry, in his written reply to Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said more than five years after the mining scam was handed to the police, the probe remains incomplete.

"As such, the assumed figure of about Rs 35,000 crore loss based upon such lease encroachment was found to be not correctly projected," he said.

However, the other illegal acts were being investigated on a case-to-case basis, he added.

Mining in Goa was stopped both by the state as well as the Centre in 2012 following a Rs 35,000-crore illegal mining scam which was unearthed by a Judicial Commission appointed by the Union Mines Ministry.

Later, the Supreme Court banned all mining activities in the same year following a Public Interest Litigation by Goa Foundation, a local green NGO.

All top mining companies were indicted in the illegal mining scam exposed by the Justice M.B. Shah Commission, which also pointed to a politician-bureaucrat-mining companies nexus.

Parrikar in his reply also said a different global positioning system survey conducted by the state has revealed that the surface disturbance outside lease hold area was less than 10 hectares as against 578 hectares mentioned in the Shah Commission report.

"Comptroller Auditor General has not quantified loss from 88 operational leases," Parrikar said.

The report of the commission had directed the state to assess the actual loss from each mine and other illegal mining based on ground realities by a team of experts in the field with latest 3D Laser measurement equipment, he said.

--IANS

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