Goa mine closures too little, too late, say activists

The Ministry of Environment recently declined to renew the leases of seven iron ore mines in Goa because these were too close to wildlife sanctuaries.

Too little, too late, say experts. These seven projects, along with 62 others in the state, have already enjoyed two-year leases.

The ministry denied extensions after the Supreme Court said in a case related to Rajasthan that mining should not be allowed within a kilometre of wildlife sanctuaries.

The ministry and its two environment impact assessment (EIA) committees on mining have been allowing such projects all along. A total of 198 projects are pending for approval with the two committees, according to the ministry's website. Of these, two are from Goa.

The two EIA committees meet once a month over three working days and take up over 40 projects each. There are seldom any rejections. The minutes of the meetings on the ministry's website vouch for this.

In fact, the seven rejections are the first instance of any mine being denied clearance just for being near a wildlife sanctuary, says Goa Foundation Director Claude Alvares, who dragged the ministry to the Supreme Court in 2004 for allowing iron ore mines within 10-km radius of wildlife sanctuaries.

Alvares said the EIA panels even cleared three mines inside wildlife sanctuaries this year. "We have objected to this and written to the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court as well as the ministry," he said.

"These were mines which were stopped by the Supreme Court in a case filed by the Goa Foundation in 2004. But the companies tried to get temporary leases and were allowed," he added.

The ministry defends itself saying that the EIA is not the only screening point as the panels look only for violations of the Environment Protection Act. The projects are also screened for violations of forest protection and wildlife protection Acts.

Alvares says wildlife officials have powers only to stop such activities inside sanctuaries. The 10-km radius around sanctuaries is not under their control. These are cleared by the EIA panels, which have this year cleared mining inside sanctuaries too, he says.

The EIA committee members say field trips and data are not a must. Says BKP Sinha, a member from Rajasthan: "It depends on whether the members are satisfied with the information provided to them at the meetings. Besides, there are experts from wildlife on the panel who know everything and do their homework before coming for the meeting."

In the last two years, the ministry gave two-year leases for 69 mines within three-km radius of wildlife sanctuaries. About 48 mines got forest clearance in the last two years.

Alvares says all these will go before the Supreme Court empowered committee, which in 2004 shut down 14 mines as they were within the 10-km radius. The ministry had then intervened saying the limit had been reduced to one kilometre.

Alvares says no member dares to come to Goa for fear of protests from locals.

The website of the ministry gives the list of projects that have been granted approval but does not provide the list of projects that have been denied approval.

Ministry officials said such a list was never made and might be put in the public domain in the future. They add that the EIA approvals are in any case not final as forest and wildlife clearances are also required.

SC panel to decide fate of Goa iron ore mines today Page 11