In a bid to check illegal iron ore mining, the government of the western Indian state of Goa has decided on penalties for mining leaseholders, a government official said on Monday, April 17.
The official said that, in the event of detection of any violation of mining laws and illegal mining operations against a mining leaseholder, the latter’s annual quota for production will be reduced immediately. The size of the quota reduction will be related to the extent of the illegal mining resorted to by a lease holder.
At the same time, mining lease holders will be encouraged to provide information to the government on any illegal mining operations resorted to by any other leaseholder in Goa and such leaseholders providing information will be rewarded, the official said but did not elaborate on the details of such a reward.
As per the directives of the Indian Supreme Court, the annual iron ore production in Goa was capped at 20 million mt per year and various leaseholders in the state were offered a fixed annual quota for production by the government from the overall annual production limit.