Panaji: Three months after suspending the State Mines and Geology Director Arvind Lolienkar for alleged illegalities and irregularities in the department, the Goa government will file a chargesheet against him under the Anti-Corruption Act, this week.
"The chargesheet is being prepared by the government under anti-corruption act and it will be handed over to the vigilance department to prosecute the former director," a senior official in the Mines Ministry said.
Lolienkar was suspended after Manohar Parrikar-led government cracked down on the large scale irregularities and illegalities in the state`s mining sector, which was marred with corruption.
The state had witnessed whopping illegal mining activity in last half a decade, inviting probe from the Union Mines Ministry.
Officials said the chargesheet holds Lolienkar responsible for both irregularities and illegalities.
"The details of the chargesheet could not be divulged at this stage," he said.
It is reliably learnt that Lolienkar is being prosecuted for allowing the mining traders be registered with the department illegally.
The probe into the number of traders, recently, had revealed that majority of them were working with the fake addresses.
The mining traders are held accountable for the illegal mining activity as they fly-by-night and usually fuel the illegal mining activity, a senior official from the ministry said.
Lolienkar has also been prosecuted for excess extraction of iron ore in the state, exceeding the limits permissible under Environment Clearances granted by Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).
Goa exported around 53 million metric tonnes of iron ore during 2010-11, when Lolienkar headed the department, majority of which is considered to be illegally extracted from 90-odd mining leases existing in the state.
PTI
