Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar 'questions' CEC report to Supreme Court in mining

PANAJI: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the information provided by Central Empowered Committee (CEC) on mining to the Supreme Court was "questionable."

"The interpretation of CEC (about Goa's mining issue) was questionable. Mining in Goa is not new, you have to understand it from the context of full history," Parrikar told reporters here.

The Supreme Court-appointed CEC, in its report submitted to the apex court a fortnight ago, had observed mining in Goa should not be allowed till Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) is conducted.

The committee had also pointed out several fallacies in the state's mining operations.

"There are some points which are missing in the CEC report. The committee should have given facts to the Supreme Court," the Chief Minister said, adding, the committee members were seen moving around with the applicants (NGO) who have filed a case in the Supreme Court.

"CEC should have acted independently as they are a court appointed committee," he said.

"What I saw that the applicants (petitioners) were sitting with the CEC most of the time. They carried petitioners everywhere during their Goa visit. The information given to the CEC may not be the perfect one," he added.

The chief minister said several facts like Goa government's action of stopping the transportation of ore through order dated September 10, 2012 was not mentioned in the CEC report.

The case would be next heard by the Supreme Court in January.

Parrikar said the Goa government will file an affidavit pleading before the court that it is the responsibility of the state government to decide whether to start or stop the mining activity.

"We will give assurance that only the legal mining would be allowed in the state," he added.