Mining of mineral needs to be done with human face: Justice Ananga Patnaik

Bhubaneswar: Minerals could bring more wealth to the society but mining of mineral needs to be done with human face. Local people in and around mineral bearing areas should get the benefit of growth and development, said former Supreme Court judge Justice Ananga Patnaik while participating at the national convention on “Development of Mineral bearing Areas: Odisha Shows the way”.

The convention was held on virtual platform under the chairmanship of Justice (Retd) Ananga Patnaik here today. More than 30 organisations, senior government officials, industry captains and NGOs actively participated in the meet.

While listening to the appraisals of developmental initiatives taken by various corporates and institutional bodies, Patnaik appreciated Vedanta Aluminium & Power and its CEO Rahul Sharma for bringing transformational change in Jharsuguda and Kalahandi.

Steel & Mines Minister Prafulla Mallik participated in the meet as chief guest and informed the gathering on plans and programs of the government in driving the growth and development in mineral bearing areas. He praised the efforts of Vedanta, other corporates and industry bodies for organising such a discussion at national level through digital platform enabling so many eminent personalities, directly or  indirectly connected with the developmental work in mining areas.

Principal Advisor to CM and Chairman WODC Asit Tripathy gave a presentation on various measures taken by the state government. He underscored that in mineral bearing areas, focus have been given on supply of safe drinking water, health, education and employment. Additional Chief Secretary and Chief Administrator KBK area CJ Venugopal shared his experiences in taking the community on board during land acquisition. He suggested for systematic approach in providing investment, infrastructure in mining areas for promoting all round development.

Rahul Sharma, CEO Vedanta informed that Vedanta has made the single largest investment of Rs 80,000 crore in Jharsuguda and Lanjigarh and the company would be making further investment of Rs 25000 crore. He also gave a detailed narrative on developmental works done by Vedanta.

G Rajesh, CEO OMBADC, made a presentation on genesis of OMBADC and the multifarious development work undertaken by it in mining and mineral areas. His presentation was highly appreciated by the participants as they came to know about OMBADC and its work and contribution. Dr. Ranjit Rath, CMD, Oil India Limited presented off-shore and on-shore drilling by Oil India in Odisha and their plans for investment. Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director IIM (Sambalpur) told that there is enough scope to bring improvement in Sustainable Development Goal index, Human Development Index of the state while Prof. G. Narahari Sastry, Director, CSIR- IMMT suggested for application of technology to bring value out of the minerals.

Eminent professionals like Prof. Sasmita Samanta, Vice Chancellor KIIT, GG Pal, CEO Vedanta Refinary Lanjigarh, Sariputta Mishra, CEO, OCPL, Brahma Mishra, Chairman, UCCI, Sanjay Patnaik, Direct Essar, Devjyoti Mohanty, CEO AIC Nalanda, Sudhakar Panda, Ex Vice Chancellor, Birla Global University, Bijay Mishra, Chief Editor PBD, JK Panigrahi, Secretary, Odisha Environment Society, Namrata Chadha, Women Right Activist & HK Behera, Chairman Odisha Corporate Foundation placed their view points and made the national convention highly informative and meaningful. All organisations, industry bodies, scholars, students participated in large number and gave feedback that such a gathering of prominent persons for discussion on Development of Mineral areas in the state is the need of the time and will certainly make Odisha race ahead of other states in the country. The meeting ended with a vote of thanks by Durga Prasad Gouda, COO AIC Nalanda.