Panaji, Sep 7: There is a big surprise in store for union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan when she arrives in Goa Sep 11, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who has been at loggerheads with the ministry over allegations of illegal mining of iron ore dumps in the state, said Thursday.
"There will be a big surprise for her when she lands here on the 11th (of September)," he said.
The mining dumps lie along a 90-km belt from northeast to southeast Goa and were left unprocessed for decades. But a recent jump in iron ore demand and new technologies have made harvesting of low-grade reject ore easier.
A team from the environment ministry is already in Goa to assess if illegal mining of dumps is being carried out.
The dumps are estimated to have over 700 million tonnes of iron ore.
