CNN-IBN reported that the Indian environment ministry has cancelled the green clearance to Pirna Iron Ore Mines of Sesa Goa for suppressing information and faulty environment impact assessment.

A statement issued by the environment ministry said that it was among the rare instances where it invoked Clause 8 of the EIA Notification, 2006.

The notification stipulates that "deliberate concealment and/or submission of false and misleading data which is material to screening and scoping shall make the application liable for rejection".

Mr Sanjay Choudhry, spokesperson for Vedanta, said, “The cancellation of the environment clearance for the Pirna lease, which is a very small mine, is an old issue, where Sesa Goa had voluntarily withdrawn its clearance application when it was discovered that our application was deficient on some counts. No mining has occurred at the mine even though clearance was granted. Mining at the Pirna lease was never considered part of our business plans.”

In August 2009, the ministry had given the nod to the mine spread over 43 hectares across the Pirna and Nadora villages in north Goa, with an extraction limit of 200,000 tonnes. The EIA report for the Pirna mine concealed that it was within the 10 kilometer buffer zone of a reserved forest.


(Sourced from ibnlive.in.com and HT)