PANJIM: The Justice MB Shah Commission's third report on illegal mining in Goa will be drafted only after the Supreme Court verdict on the petition on illegal mining in Goa is out and it will address issues of illegalities involved in transfer of leases and illegal ore exports specifically in the last five or six years before all mining in Goa was halted by the highest court in the land.

Talking to Herald, Justice Shah said that he will begin "drafting the report only after the apex court clearance", and that the report would only come out after the Supreme Court order. “We are waiting for the SC to pass its verdict on the petition filed in illegal mining in Goa,” he said.

After the cancellation of no objection certificate by the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) the district administration has launched a campaign to remove all stone crushing units.

Despite Supreme Court's orders, illegal mining still continues to persist in Alwar. On Wednesday morning, 45 dumpers used for illegal mining were seized during a joint crack down illegal mining by teams of district police and RTO. While the dumper drivers managed to flee, the police managed to arrest one person.

PANJIM: The Goa government after partially objecting to Prof Madhav Gadgil committee report on the Western Ghats, Thursday claimed it will have no money in its treasury to pay salaries if all recommendations in the report are accepted.

“I was saying the other day that if we had to accept all the recommendations of Prof Gadgil committee report, then we will have no money to pay for salaries, even the salaries of Judges,” Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the House on the concluding day of the Budget Session of the State Legislative Assembly Thursday.

PANJIM: The Goa Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on Thursday, with both Ruling and Opposition MLAs, unitedly urging the Central government to step in for providing financial relief for the mining dependent people of Goa and resume legal mining.

The resolution, which was moved by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar urged the Centre to provide a financial package for rehabilitation of the people affected due to suspension of mining activities since September 2012. The resolution also urged the Centre to start legal mining while assuring that each mine will be ‘perfectly checked’ before allowing it to start.

Miner BHP Billiton has been given until the end of 2016 to halt most of the pollution discharged from one of its coal mines into the Georges River south-west of Sydney, a verdict that has split env

A long judicial stay on the sand mining has caused an increase in the cases of illegal sand mining and has also increased the rates of sand in the market. The police had registered many cases of illegal sand mining and seized loaded trucks and trolleys.

To check the illegal sand mining, the state government and later the High Court had imposed a ban on sand mining over an year ago. However, sometime ago, the High Court had removed the ban, but due to the lack of environmental clearance from the concerned departments, most of the mining sites were lying without auction. During this period, illegal sand mining was encouraged in the Ghaggar river and some other small rivers in this area. On the other hand, customers are bound to purchase sand at higher rates for construction works.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a Bombay High Court order directing Goa government to file FIRs against all miners named in the Justice M B Shah Commission report for alleged violation of lease conditions.

Without the stay, the state would have been forced to take action against top politicians such as Pratapsing Rane, Digambar Kamat and Ravi Naik’s son Roy besides several top miners and officials in the state.

The Supreme Court has stayed the March 22 order of Bombay High Court at Goa, directing the Goa Government to file an FIR (first information report) with police against 151 people, including former chief ministers and ministers, mine owners and officials in connection with the alleged illegal mining in the state.

The Three-Judge Bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, Justices Anil Dave and Vikramjit Sen, passed the order which had challenged the High Court's direction on the complaint of social activist Kashinath Shetye.

PANJIM: The State government will file its reply on the buffer zone of wild life sanctuaries before the Supreme Court and a copy to this will be sent to Union Ministry of Forest and Environment, department officials said.

The Union ministry had recently accused the Goa government of not replying to its queries and asked the Supreme Court to direct it to do the needful. “We are filing our say. The file has been approved,” Principal chief conservator of forests Richard D’ Souza told Herald, adding that they would file the reply before the Supreme Court and the MoEF.