The Goa government has decided to boot out illegal traders of iron ore by allowing only those to operate who have valid tie-ups with mining firms extracting ore in the State.

The State Mines and Geology Department will issue show-cause notices to over 400 traders to fix the trader-supported illegal mining problem in Goa.

‘zero tolerance'

The Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Parrikar, at a meeting yesterday, told all the mining firms and stakeholders that the government has adopted ‘zero tolerance' towards illegal mining in the State.

Mr Parrikar, who suspended Director of Mines and Geology, Mr Arvind Lolienkar, for his involvement in the alleged illegalities, asked the Department to cancel the licences of traders who do not reply to the show-cause notice within a stipulated time.

“Give me some time and you will see that I will bring in discipline in the overall mining sector,” said Mr Parrikar, who also instructed the State transport department not to register any new mining trucks in the State and also work out solutions to decongest the bottlenecks created by trucks ferrying ore from mining sites to jetties.

The ore from the jetties is later loaded on smaller vessels, to be later transferred to bigger ships at the port for export.

Goa exported 43 million tonnes of ore in the just-concluded financial year, mopping up Rs 930 crore in the form of royalty for the State government.

The low-grade ore from Goa is exported to such destinations as China and Japan, where it is blended with high-grade ore and used by local steel industries.

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