Goa scam ran through PM's stint at environment ministry

NEW DELHI: Justice M B Shah Commission’s indictment of the Union environment ministry for disregarding norms and Supreme Court orders to give clearances that facilitated rampant iron ore mining in Goa covers the period when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held charge of the environment and forests portfolio.

The commission’s censure of authorities for letting the mines function for more than half a decade in violation of norms for environment protection applies to the two-year spell — from May 17, 2007 to May 27, 2009 — when Singh was in charge of the ministry.

He was assisted by two ministers of state — Congress’s Namo Narain Meena and DMK’s S Raghupathy. This was the period between the tenures of two Cabinet ministers — A Raja and Jairam Ramesh.

The commission has taken a stern view of the failure of the authorities to rein in the mining industry.