Goa tightens monitoring of mining business

The government of Goa has decided to tighten monitoring and surveillance of mining business in the state. It has framed a new set of rules and regulations for ore transportation, which will come into force from August 15. The director of mines and geology of Goa, Prasanna Acharya has circulated a letter to all mine operators in the state instructing them to strictly adhere to the rules and regulations for transportation of ores in the state.

“It is necessary to streamline the operations in the state ahead of beginning of mining operations post monsoon. This will help to ensure proper accounting of royalties and taxes to be recovered from mine operators and ore transporters,” said Acharya.

The department has also instructed barge owners involved in ore transportation to furnish all the details of their business before beginning mining operations, failing which, permits for ore transportation will be cancelled. The directorate has also written a letter to Goa Barge Transport Association that all the operators must be members of the Association and details of each barge must be submitted to the captain of ports at Goa. The barge owners must submit all the required documents along with their postal address, e-mail identity, telephone, fax and mobile numbers to the captain of ports before August 27.

The letter by the directorate has some instructions for mine lease holders and transporters.

• The lease holders will have to install electronic weigh bridges with necessary software to generate transit passes or permits as specified by the directorate;
• the permits or passes generated by weigh bridges will have detailed information such as TC number, vehicle number, destination, quantity of ore and all the other details made mandatory by the directorate.
• There shall be no overloading of trucks and a copy of the permit or pass should be pasted on the windshield of the carrier;
• the drivers employed on the trucks must have a commercial badge issued by the department of transport, government of Goa and they would adhere to all the traffic rules and will not indulge in rash driving;
• the transporter will ensure safeguards to prevent air pollution by covering the truck with tarpaulin. If any truck is found carrying ore more than capacity, fine of Rs 5 lakh per vehicle will be imposed, which will be recovered from respective lease holder or trader.
• The letter also has warned the ore transporters and mine operators of termination of lease if 25 or more trucks were found overloaded from same lease area.

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