Digital Goa, Aug 9- The State Legislative Assembly saw a heated debate on mining, e-auction and recovery from illegal mining today. Opposition grilled the govt over deciding on the quantum and quality of iron ore reserves in the auctioned Mineral Blocks based on Mining Plans submitted by erstwhile lease holders without independently verifying the data. CM said that although the data has been used, the same has been approved by Indian Bureau of Mine(IBM). The average grade has been considered as 55 and the royalty will be paid by the lease holders based on the actual extraction, informed CM. He further informed the house that 4 lease holders of the 9 blocks e-auctioned so far are previous lease holders while 2 are new player. Opposition questioned as to why the old defaulters involved in illegal mining were allowed to bid. CM said that 42 mining companies have been issued notices to recover Rs 352 crore and Rs80 crore have been recovered so far.
