From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, May 5: Goa Draft Forest policy is entirely silent on the control of iron ore mining within the wildlife sanctuaries and forest areas, which has grabbed attention of the green activists.

Except for a mention that mining within the forest shall be regulated as per existing legal provisions, the policy which was expecting to throw light on the buffer zone between forest boundries and mining sites, has been a `non-committal.’

“Mineral prospecting/exploration or mining (fresh or existing leases and/or their renewal) including extraction of minor minerals shall be regulated as per the existing legal provisions,” the policy, which is kept open for suggestions, reads.

Mining in the state’s forest areas, located in the lap of Western Ghat, has been a matter of concern. This week, State legislative assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) itself had ordered closure of 15 mines in the forest areas, which were operating without valid environmental clearances under the wildlife protection act.

Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Shashi Kumar said that department’s thinking is that bear minimum area can only be diverted (for mining ) with the proper approvals of state government and union ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).

“Even if the area is diverted they will be with all stipulated conditions like compensatory afforestration and handing over back the area of mines to the state after proper closure of mine, once the extraction is over,” he said.

The anti-mining activists, however, said that the state forest department has never been honest in their duties to stop mining in the eco-sensitive areas. Environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar said that even when state’s forest areas were declared as wildlife sanctuaries, it took almost two years for the government to close the existing mines.

Kerkar said that state’s Netravali and Mhadei wildlife sanctuaries together had 40 mines of which 18 were operational. “There were many mining sites which were not having permission under Forest Conservation Act, 1980,” he added.

He said that it was only after several memorandums to the Central empowered committee that these mines were closed.

The mining menace in the forest areas still continues even a decade after closure of several mines, Kerkar said.

As per the state legislative assembly records, from 1995-2007, 1,907 hectares of forest land has been diverted and since then, another 1,314 hectares has gone towards non-forest purpose.

Goa has 105 working mines leases which extracts around 50 million metric tones of iron ore that is exported to China and European nations