KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – With national elections barely a year away and pressures mounting from the ground up, India’s federal government is considering bringing in an ordinance to resume iron-ore mining in the western coastal state of Goa.
Sources say that local government is concerned over the impact of the closure of 88 iron-ore mines since March 15, at the forthcoming elections, as rising unemployment is expected to gain traction as a political issue for opposition political parties.
Various political parties and constituents of the coalition Goa government have sought federal government’s immediate intervention in getting iron-ore mines in the region back in operation.
It is learnt that the group of Ministers, headed by Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, has been tasked with resolving the issue of the Goa mines and that it has sought legal opinion from the Attorney General, to come up with options, including the promulgation of an ordinance by the central government to circumvent the Supreme Court order.
The apex court in a ruling of February 2018, maintained that second renewals of mining leases of the 88 iron-ore mines were illegal as the renewals were not done through the auction route, as is mandatory under the Mines, Mineral Development and Regulation Act (MMRDA) 2015.
The court ordered that all miners stop operations from March 15, and evacuate their equipment from their respective leasehold areas.
At the time of the closure of the mines, the Goa government had committed that it would ensure that the mines were back in operation by December. With the unofficial deadline approaching and the resumption of mining operation not in sight, various coalition partners in the Goa government have threatened to pull out of the government, not wanting to risk their respective electoral base ahead of national elections, next year.
Sources say that the government is likely to promulgate an ordinance to pave the way for resumption of mining as soon as legal opinion is received from the Attorney General’s Office as amendments to the MMRDA will take time through the Parliamentary process.