)
Top Goa mining companies today maintained in the Supreme Court that they have not violated any mining or other environmental laws and the ban on their activities should be lifted. The bench headed by Justice A K Patnaik began hearing petitions for and against the resumption of mining in the iron ore rich state.
Goa Foundation counsel Prashant Bhushan objected to the resumption of the mining and wanted the ban imposed last year by the court to continue. He said that half the production of iron ore was exported. The companies were exploiting the minerals in such haste that in nine years, the entire supply of natural resources will be depleted, leaving nothing for even the next generation. The court has developed the theory of inter-generational equity. The present activities are totally against it.
He cited the MB Shah committee report which had found that the mining companies have been operating violating all norms. With a pittance given to the state as royalty they are making profits to the extent of 90%. The inputs and transport cost them only 10% and the rest was all gobbled up by the companies. Moreover, they were operating in wild life sanctuaries violating the restrictions imposed on them by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and without the no-objection certificates mandatory from the wildlife board.
Narrating the events which led the environmental degradation in the state lying in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats, counsel said that it was abundantly clear from the response of the state government to the mining scam, that the government was unable to make any long-term decisions for the good of the State that may involve inconveniencing the powerful miners. The court will therefore need to compel the govt through its orders till the situation improves after continuous monitoring, he argued.
