PANJIM: Independent legislator Vijai Sardesai on Thursday accused Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar of soft peddling the issues related to the mining industry in the state, which have gained gigantic proportion at the cost of the environment.

Speaking on the motion of thanks to Governor’s address moved by Aldona MLA Glen Ticlo, Sardesai said that ‘there is wholesale U-turn by the State Government on the issue of mining.’

SHILLONG: The State Government is contemplating to come up with an Executive Order (EO) to hold mine owners responsible for any untoward incidents that might occur inside mining areas owned by them.

“We would soon come with the Executive Order as the Government is concerned over the lack of safety norms in mining areas across the State which is posing a serious threat to the life of the thousands of labourers who are working in these mines,” Deputy Chief Minister Bindo Mathew Lanong and in charge Mining and Geology said here on Thursday.

PANJIM: Government will table the draft mining policy during the forthcoming Goa Legislative Assembly’s monsoon session which commences Thursday, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar disclosed.

Briefing Herald, Parrikar said that the process of formulating the draft policy is almost complete by eliciting inputs from various departments linked with the mining industry. “The inputs will be drafted as a policy and will be tabled on the floor of the House,” Parrikar informed. He elaborated that each department which is concerned with the mining industry has been asked to give their inputs, which would be included in the draft document.

Prof. Madhav Gadgil, who authored the first report on the impact of mining on the Western Ghats, has blasted the government for their decision to set up a second panel to review its findings following criticism by Kerala and Karnataka state governments.

The move, Prof. Gadgil believed, could not have come at a more inappropriate time especially since, after much delay, the report was put up on the ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) website with public comments sought up to the middle of this month.

SHILLONG: Police have registered a case of negligence against the manager of the rat hole mine located at Nengkul, Rongsa Awe of Nangalbibra in East Garo Hills, where labourers are still trapped in

PANJIM: Over 30 applications for diversion of forest land for mining have been received by the Forest Department since 2011, which have been kept on hold, in the absence of State Forest Policy 2011.

Former Forest Minister, Filipe Neri Rodrigues had, announced that no fresh applications for diversion of forest lands for mining would be considered by his department till a new Forest Policy for the state is framed.

The multinational iron ore producer and exporter – Sesa Goa Limited has recently approached the state industry department for renewal of its MoU that was signed in 2003-04 and cancelled recently. Industry department source said the company has submitted a representation to this effect to state’s director of industries.

Jharkhand government had signed 75 MoUs for steel sector during last eight years, among them Sesa Goa was the 27th companies whose agreements were cancelled as the companies were delaying in implementing the terms and conditions of the MoUs.

The agreement was signed with the Japanese firm in Tokyo

India's largest steel maker SAIL today inked the final pact with Japan's Kobe Steel to set up a 500,000-tonne plant in West Bengal to produce a key steel making raw material. The facility entailing an investment of Rs 1,500 crore would use Kobe's specialised technology ITmK3 (iron making technology mark three) to produce nuggets to be shared equally by the partners for captive use, an official release said.

Steamrolling the concerns raised by mining firms, the mines ministry has told a Parliamentary committee that people displaced from their homes in mining zones have to be allotted shares of the mine

Facing stiff opposition from the Naxals, the Indian Railways, which is building a track to augment supply of iron ore for Bhilai Steel Plant, has told the Ministry of Home Affairs that contractors