Monday, December 29, 2014

Government Renews 12 more Mining Leases
Photo: Digital Goa
Panaji, Dec 29, 2014: The state government has received 125 crore in form of stamp duty from 12 more mining companies for the renewal of mining leases.

Last week directorate of mines and geology (DMG) had issued order to 12 mining companies to pay stamp duty for the renewal of their mining leases. With 12 more mining leases paying stamp duty, the total number of mining leases renewal will go up to 39 mining leases.

Out of 12 mining leases who have paid stamp duty, seven belong to Chowgule and Company Pvt Ltd, four belong to V M Salgaocar and Brothers Pvt Ltd and one Sesa Goa.

DMG director Prasanna Acharya told TOI that out of 12 mining leases, DMG has issued lease renewal orders for seven mining leases and remaining leases renewal orders will be issued next week.

The state government has decided to approve around 45 mining leases by January 2015, and the cap on iron ore extraction from each mine will also be decided in the same period.

The recent judgment of Supreme Court had allowed mining of iron ore in Goa with an upper limit of 20 million tonnes per year.

So far state government has received stamp duty from 39 mining leases out of which 16 mining lease agreements have been executed between the DMG and mining companies. Earlier, the state government had received 376 crore in the form of stamp duty from 27 mining leases

Mining lease deeds signed by the government belong to V M Salgaocar and Brothers Pvt Ltd, two belong to Fomento, and one each belongs to Kunda Gharse mine, G N Agarwal, Geetabala Parulekar, Rajaram Bandekar Pvt Ltd, Chowgule and Company Pvt Ltd, Sesa Goa and Lithoferro.

After the singing of mining lease deed, mining companies have to pay an amount equivalent to stamp duty to the government as registration fee while registering the lease deed at the sub-registrar's office. Acharya said after registering of lease deed before the sub-registrar, mining companies have to submit a copy of the same to the mines department within four months.

The mining came to a halt in Goa, in September 2012, after the Shah Commission report on illegal mining was tabled in Parliament. During the pre-Union Budget meeting at Delhi, chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar had sought 1,000 crore package as the state government had lost around 2,500 crore revenue from mining.

The mining companies are hopeful of starting fresh extraction of iron ore in Goa from October 2015.

Courtesy: The Times of India

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