By IANS,
Panaji : No fresh mining applications will be entertained in Goa, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said Monday.
“The mines department keeps getting fresh applications for mining in new leases. But there is a blanket ban on processing any new applications,” Parrikar told reporters here even as the Supreme Court-imposed ban on mining in Goa stretched to the third week.
There are 336 mining leases in Goa, of which nearly 100 mining leases are operational. The Supreme Court ban follows a report by the Justice M.B. Shah Commission, which has unearthed a Rs.35,000 crore scam in Goa where politicians, bureaucrats and mining companies have been indicted.