GSPCB consent likely for those mines which have all approvals

The GSPCB, which met at its headquarters in Panaji, decided that the mines that do not have permissions from the Chief Wildlife warden (CWW) and the National Board for Wildlife will not be allowed to operate.

"Those mines who have no issues as far as documents are concerned, would be considered for the consent under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974," GSPCB Chairman Jose Manuel Noronha told reporters here.

Total 107 mining leases were pending for the consent, whose leases expired on July 31, 2012.

"We will have to verify those documents first before giving them the consent," Noronha added.

The consent for those mines, which don't have the permission from the chief wildlife warden or National Board for Wildlife, will be rejected, he explained.

It was also decided that all those mines against which litigations are pending in the high court due to excessive mining, encroachment and validity of environment clearance (EC), will be heard by the board afresh.

"We will have fresh hearing for such cases," Noronha said.

Goa government has currently suspended permission of all the mining leases in the state, following Justice M B Shah commission's damning report on illegal iron ore trade.

Under the Air-Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 the consent is mandatory for all the mines to restart their operations.