Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday told the state legislative assembly, that recovery proceedings against 42 mining companies, accused of being part of the mammoth illegal mining, are on and notices would be issued to them within a month’s time.
Sawant, who was grilled by the opposition MLAs over the delay in probe by the state government-appointed Special Investigation Team into the Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam, also said, that several efforts were afoot, including petitioning the Supreme Court as well as the central government, to ensure resumption of ore extracting operations in the coastal state, which have been banned by the apex court in 2018.
“Recovery proceedings are on against 42 companies. The government does not want to lose any revenue. We will be issuing them a notice within one month,” Sawant told the state assembly during Question Hour.
In 2012, the Justice MB Shah Commission had exposed a Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam, in which most of the top mining companies in the state were accused of carrying out illegal mining operations.
In a written reply to a question asked by Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo, Sawant, however, refused to name the persons accused in the illegal mining scam.
“…till the inquiries attain finality, the names of the persons against whom proceedings are underway in connection with illegal mining and loss of government revenue, cannot be provided,” Sawant said.
The SIT which was appointed in the regime of former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar, is probing the findings of the Shah Commission report as well as revelations made in other official investigations including those conducted by the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee and the state assembly’s Public Accounts Committee.
Earlier, Opposition MLAs including former Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro had demanded a white paper on the government’s position on the mining scenario in the state, which the Congress MLA said ought to include, the existing ore deposits, delay on part of the government in resuming mining operations and delay in the probe against those responsible for illegal mining.