PANJIM: The fate of 61 iron ore mining leases will be known on Friday when the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) meets to decide on granting these leases Consent to Operate under the Water and Air Pollution Acts. There are 16 leases sans Environment Clearance (EC), Wildlife Clearance (WLC) and Forest Clearance (FC) that could face trouble. The 61 leases, renewed by the Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG), have been allowed to extract fresh iron ore on a pro-rata basis. The GSPCB technical advisory committee has submitted its report for the board to take a final decision. Last month the Board’s expert team had completed inspection of the 61 mining leases, and last week mining firms representing these 61 leases made detailed representation on how they intend to handle water and air pollution. “The Board members will be meeting on Friday afternoon to decide on the grant of consent to all these 61 leases,” GSPCB chairman Jose Manuel Noronha said, recalling that in September 2012, the Board had refused to renew the consent of the leases following suspension of mining activity by the government. DMG has renewed 89 mining leases of which the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has lifted the EC abeyance of 72 leases. Of the 89 leases, 61 have been allowed fresh extraction. As reported by Herald in May, there are 12 leases without WLC located within the protected boundaries. These leases are amongst the 61 but have not been granted EC. These 12 leases belongs to V M Salgaocar (4), N S Narvekar (2), Kunda Gharse (3), and one each to Ramakant Poinguinkar, Manual D’Costa and Achut Velingkar. Similarly there are four mining leases located in forest land that have not obtained FC and hence not been granted EC by MoEF. These leases belong to Geetabala Parulekar, Hiralal Khodidas, Rajaram Bandekar and Zoiram Neugi. Further, of the 61 leases, the second renewal of 17 leases has been challenged by Goa Foundation that claims that the renewals were approved on January 12, this year, the day when the Mines and Minerals Development Regulation (MMDR) Act amendment was made via an ordinance.