Bhubaneswar: The 10th edition of Odisha Environment Congress (OEC) will be held at Regional Museum of Natural History (RMNH), Acharya Vihar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha on 20th to 22nd December 2019. The theme for the programme is “Environment and Mining”.
Dhiren Kumar Raim Chairman of OEC said, “Mining bears lot of meaning in the context of Odisha. The OEC is going to discuss, debate and deliberate on different aspects of mining and find out workable solutions to the issues bothering us.”
Mining, in spite of its significant contribution to the State’s economy, has also many detrimental effects on the environment. These are manifested in erosion and contamination, loss of biodiversity, water and air pollution, which adversely impact human health and well-being. Erosion is linked to exposed hillsides, mine dumps, tailings dams and the resultant situation of drainages, creeks and rivers that impact surrounding areas significantly. In forest areas, mining can cause destruction and disturbance of the eco-systems and habitats and in farming areas it can destroy the cultivable and grazing lands. The usage of large amounts of water for mine drainage, mine cooling and other mining processes, leads to contamination of surface and ground water, he added
Sudarshan Das, Secretary of OEC said, “The three-day long conference will include dialogues and deliberations on the main theme as well as sub-themes.
He said that there will be two special sessions. While the mining industries will be speaking about how they are doing their job in a responsible way, the affected people in the mining areas will speak their case ij the second session.
As a prelude to Odisha Environment Congress 2019, there will be a workshop on “Mining in Keonjhar and it’s impact on Environment”, December 8, at Sahid Sadan, Keonjhar.