Shillong, Sept 25: Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma, has called for adopting sustainable mining methods to minimize the impact of mining on ecology and environment. He has asked miners to draw a line between extracting minerals as well as maintaining the delicate balance in nature.
He said that while minerals are being explored and mined for overall development of the state and the country there is also a need to ensure to minimize the impact on ecology and the environment and draw the line somewhere. “We as stakeholders cannot ignore these facts and crucial to ensure sustainability and balance is maintained,” he stressed while inaugurating the workshop on “Enhancing Mineral Exploration through NMET” organized by the Directorate of Mineral Resources, Government of Meghalaya, at State Convention Centre on Wednesday.
He further noted that with the progress of technology in contemporary times, mineral exploration has become more accurate, easy and scientific. “Technology partners like NESAC has played a very important role not only in mining activities but also in other sectors like water resources and forest resources mapping,” he said.
Delivering the inaugural address, the Chief Minister informed that the workshop is being organized with the objective of contributing towards the nation’s goal of making India Viksit Bharat.
The CM also added that the land holding system of the state is very unique and embedded in culture and tradition. “These aspects are also something which we do not wish to ignore and it is also important to respect these cultures, traditions and the people and work with them together to build up the right consensus and atmosphere ensuring everybody is on board,” he stated.
Concluding his speech, the Chief Minister said that transition of mining from the traditional method of mining that the miners of the state had been engaged in for centuries to scientific mining has to be justified. “The ban on the non-scientific method of mining has a huge economic impact on families that depend on mining and on the economy of the state therefore the transition has to be just for all where the transition takes place within a given timeframe,” he added.
The Chief Minister also released the State Geological and Mineral Map of Meghalaya on 1:1 million scale and also launched the Meghalaya Minerals Database during the occasion.
The one-day workshop was held to accelerate the exploration activity in the state. Through this workshop all stakeholders, including the exploration activity to enhance mineral production in the state. At present the Directorate of Mineral Resources and the Geological Survey of India are the only two government organizations engaged in geological investigations and exploration of minerals in the state and there has been less participation from the private agencies in mineral exploration works. Most explorations are done through surface exploration process i.e, by mapping, sampling etc and there are a few areas where the exploration process has been done through drilling.
The workshop is a strategic initiative to boost the state’s mining sector by bringing together key stakeholders facilitating the submission of high-quality exploration proposals, fostering innovation and addressing the challenges in the exploration process. The workshop is also aimed at encouraging private sector participation in the field of mining exploration.
Various presentations by NESAC, NMET, Ministry of Coal, GSI, Law Department, SEAC, CMPDI and MECL were made during the technical sessions.
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