Still a workaholic, nonagenarian scientist Dr Prafulla Kumar Jena rises with the lark and works in his lab till the sun vanishes for the day. A highly-acclaimed metallurgist, founder-father of presently-known Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar, former Director General of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Prof Jena, who has reaped a rich harvest of his dreams. Padmashri Jena has made very significant contributions through planning and executing research and development projects and teaching programmes in areas of his specialisation as a Bhabha Atomic Research Centre scientist, Professor and Head of the Department of Metallurgy at Banaras Hindu University, Director, Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), Bhubaneswar, Director General of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, first Distinguished Professor of the Tata Chair in Metallurgical Engineering at IIT, Kharagpur, Senior Visiting Professor at Tohoku University, Japan and Catholic University of Rio-de-Janeiro, Brazil and presently as the Chairman of the Institute of Advance Technology & Environmental Studies (IATES), Bhubaneswar. A former colleague to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, he wishes that a scientist should come out from the cocooned shell of his laboratory and put his findings into practical applications to transform the rural India with a scientific temper. In an interview to The Pioneer, Dr Jena spoke to Sugyan Choudhury cautioning the Government about the consequence of illegal mining.
What is the importance of mines in the modern world?
Mines are the storehouse of all types of minerals which are essential for industrial and socioeconomic development. For example, coal produced from the mines is used mostly for harnessing energy in thermal power plants and reducing minerals for extracting metals like iron and steel, aluminium, copper, nickel, etc. Minerals like limestone are used for cement, marbles, stones, sands, etc., as construction materials for buildings, roads, etc. It may be mentioned that the mineral resources, unlike other natural resources water, renewable energy and forest, cannot be replenished. Therefore, mineral resources should be mined scientifically and used judiciously.
Why mining of minerals is disastrous in nature?
Mining of minerals, either underground or on the surface, is very much hazardous. The minerals-rich countries, including India, are facing a lot of disaster problems during mining mostly because of unscientific and careless practices. Hundreds of mineworkers die every year due to disastrous situations in the mines in the world, particularly in coal and hard rock mining. The disasters can happen through natural phenomena or by human beings. Natural disasters may be caused due to flood, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslides, etc., whereas manmade ones are mainly due to fire, explosion, inundation, slope failure, subsidence and accidents.
How manmade disasters occur?
Fire is caused particularly in underground coalmines due to presence of methane and also can be due to combustion of coal fines exposed to atmosphere in opencast coalmines. Inundation takes place due to flooding of mines by surface runoff into the mine workings both above and below the ground and also due to improper design of the mining activities. Subsidence occurs on the top surface of underground mines due to extraction of minerals and, thereby, leaving voids. Slope failure takes place mostly in opencast mines which is caused due to presence of weak planes along which a large chunk of the sides of an opencast mine slides down. Explosion in an underground mine is caused due to the presence of inflammable gases and also while conducting heavy blasting. Accidents take place due to lack of facilities and proper training of the workers.
Could you cite some major mine disasters having taken place in India?
On 29th December 2018, I came across heartbreaking media report that the Indian Air Force and Navy had to be engaged to rescue fifteen workers trapped since 13th December in a flooded coalmine in Meghalaya. This was an illegal coalmine functioning without safety measures. Such illegal mining is taking place in India in large numbers unscientifically. Notably, the disaster in the Benxihu colliery in China on April 26, 1942 claimed 1,549 lives. It is the worst mining tragedy in the world. In India, in the past, five horrifying mining accidents took place. The explosion in Chinakuri colliery at Kulti in West Bengal took place on 19th February 1958, killing 182 people. The explosion of Dhori colliery at Dhanbad on 28th May, 1965, killed 268 miners. The Chasnala coal mine disaster at Dhanbad is another one through explosion which took place on 27th December 1975, killing 372 miners. This explosion led to caving of the roof and then nearly 32 million litres of water gushed inside, drowning over 300 workers. The New Kenda mine disaster in Bihar took place on 25th January 1994, where carbon monoxide was formed inside the pit due to a fire and killed 55 workers. At Gaslitand colliery in Jharia, the water from the river gushed inside the quarry through galleries killing 64 miners on 26th September 1995. A few years back in Odisha, massive slope failure in a chromite mine in Kaliapani of Sukinda valley and the inundation of Boula chromite mine caused a lot of damage to valuable properties and sufferings to mineworkers.
How does mine disasters affect the people living in the area along with the workers?
Besides the aforesaid disasters, a large number of small and medium-scale disasters are taking place in both underground and opencast mines in India, including in Odisha every year; and there is no systematic record of these disasters and details regarding the loss of lives and properties. In many instances, illegal mining takes place due to non-implementation of disaster management programmes. Moreover, the people living in the locality also suffer greatly due to mining, blasting, transport of minerals in open trucks, up-gradating the minerals and letting out impure muddy water into land and water bodies. The landmass, water resources and air in the region get highly polluted. The mining activities and heavy pollution cause a lot of sufferings to the people in various diseases.
What are the ways to prevent mine disasters?
It is highly essential to effectively manage disasters taking place due to both natural and manmade hazards. The disasters can be prevented or their effect can be greatly minimised by framing effective disaster management plans for prevention, mitigation and preparedness and strictly implementing these. As the mining activities are quite vulnerable to disasters, each mine should have a good disaster management plan with mechanisms and experts to implement the plan properly. The programme of implementation should be supervised by concerned experts in the District Disaster Management Cells under the direct supervision of Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS), the Union Ministry of Labour and also the concerned mining authorities in the respective States. In addition, mineworker should be trained properly and necessary facilities should be provided to them. All efforts should be made by the State Governments to stop illegal mining. Adequate environment protection measures should be planned and implemented under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes to take care of health and safety of workers and people living in the surrounding areas.
What is your concluding remark in this regard?
Mineral resources are very vital for industrial and socioeconomic development. Therefore, it is necessary to mine the minerals applying best available environment-friendly technology. Through efficient management of the disasters, it is possible to harness various types of minerals in required amounts for industries while allowing the workers and the people living in the surrounding areas to lead a safe and healthy life.
