Plots cannot be less than 5,000 sq mts

TEAM HERALD GOA NEWS

PANJIM: In a bid to curb illegal operations and fly-by-night operators in the mining sector, the draft mining policy has proposed that the size of a mining plot should not be less than 5,000 square metres, since such operators use smaller plots without permission from authorities.
The plot has to have a minimum size of 5,000 square metres. No plots below this size would be registered by the Department, a senior official informed.
The Mines and Geology Department makes it mandatory for the plot operators to register with them, for which they need to have licences from the authorities such as Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB). The plots also need to be secured from all the sides with compound walls and amenities such as weighing bridge at these places.
The new policy will keep a strict watch on these plots, which become a ground for illegal mining activity in the State. The policy makers have suggested that once the plot is sealed, the ore lying within it, if found illegal, should be taken over by the Government. 
Sources stated that the Department has already cracked down on one such plot at Kothambi which was used to stock illegally transported ore from Agarwal mines in Collem.
Collem police arrested seven people, including a minor boy in the case.
Mines Department has already initiated an exercise to ascertain whether around 7,000 tonnes of ore stacked in the plot was transported illegally or stocked with permission.
The notice has been issued to the plot owner who has since been missing.