upreme Court has ordered to halt the Mining operations in all the 90 mines in Goa. The order was pronounced by the Apex Court on the basis of the Justice M B Shah Commission report which estimated a whopping Rs.35,000 crore to the exchequer due to illegal mining in the last 12 years. Mining companies have also been restrained from exporting and selling ores which has already been extracted. A three judge bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam took note of the Commission's report and issued notice to the Centre and State government. The bench also asked the apex court-appointed Central Empowered Committee to submit its report on the illegal mining in the state within four weeks. The bench passed the order on a PIL filed by an NGO, Goa Foundation, seeking probe in the illegal mining activities in the state.

Announcement

 The Centre has asked the Goa government to immediately restrict all activities regarding removal of minerals from dumpsकचरे का मैदान located outside the mining lease areas. Mines Ministry in letter to Goa government, said Goa government should immediately restrict all activities for removal of mineral from the dumps located outside the lease areas, till an appropriate mechanism is evolved .

The directive comes close on heels of Justice M B Shah Commission, which probed into the issue of illegal mining of iron ore and manganese in Goa, recommending that dumping of minerals or any subsequent work should be done only with proper permission and approval of the Indian Bureau of Mines and clearance from the concerned state government department. As per the Goa government,there are 37 mining reject dumps on revenue land, majority of which belong to big mining firms including Dempo, Sesa Goa and Fomento. 

Earlier, the one-man enquiry commission went into the issue of illegal mining in the state and also recommended that state government should upload information about mining leases on their websites to introduce transparency in the sector.

The Commission in its report also suggested that mining leases be granted through public auction to reduce corruption.

 Goa government's flagship programmes-Ladli Laxmi Scheme is likely to benefit over 9,000 girls annually. The State government has made a provision of 150 crores rupees for running the scheme during the current financial year.

Ladli Laxmi scheme launched by the Goa Government last month with a view to encourage girl child envisages a gift of Rs. one lakh for every Goan girl on the occasion of her marriage.

Under the scheme, the state government will deposit an amount of Rs. one lakh in girls account in a selected bank and make the same available to her with interest at the time of marriage. The scheme will be implemented through Department of women and child Development. 

The scheme is applicable to girls between 18 and 40 years of age. The state government predicts around 9500 out of the approximately 10,000 marriages taking place in Goa annually receiving the benefits of the scheme. The scheme has 100 per cent coverage for Goan girls

The annual plan of 4,700 crore rupees for Goa for the current fiscal has been finalized. It was finalized in a meeting between Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar in New Delhi.
Speaking on the ocassion, Mr. Ahluwalia said the state has been doing exceedingly well and achievements in all sectors of the economy are satisfactory. Mr Ahluwalia said, the state needs to further encourage private participation in the development of both social and physical infrastructure. Mr. Parrikar said that the objective of the annual plan is to achieve an all round development of the state including infrastructure and human resource development.

Goa has offered single window clearance to attract leading companies to set up shop in the state. It has assured transparency in government dealings.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told Chief Executive Officers and Captains of industry that all the industry related policies will be in place by August end.

He said the policy guidelines for Biotechnology, IT and Industrial policy are also being finalised. 

He was addressing Goa Investment Forum 2012 at Panaji today. 

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the conference, Parrikar admitted that there are certain infrastructure related issues being faced by the industrial estates(everything you own; all of your assets (whether real property or personal property) and liabilities) in the state, but said these will be settled soon.

Petrol has become cheaper in Goa by eleven rupees a litre from today. It will now be available at 54 rupees per litre. A notification to this effect has been issued by the state government. 

This follows an announcement made by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in the state assembly on March 26 while presenting the state's annual budget. 

, Goa is the first state to reduce the prices of petrol.

In Goa, Dabolim airfield will be closed for all civil and military flying between 7 am and 4 pm from Thursday to Sunday for periodic preventive maintenance of the runway.

Naval authorities have informed that the Indian Navy, Airports Authority of India and various charter operators the closure and flights are being rescheduled.

The authorities said the military fighters requires periodic preventive maintenance of the runway and the planned repairs would go a long way towards safe and efficient operations.