Noting that mining activities have a huge impact on the growth of the country, a body of mining engineers today demanded speedy environmental clearances from the Centre for such projects.
India will face severe consequences if it does not realise the importance of mining in terms of its multiplying impact on the growth, Mining Engineers Association of India President Arjeth Bagchhi said.
"Why should you take so much of time for environmental clearance ? There is no need for all that. Where there is sort of large impact which cannot be avoided, then we should take care. There should be a relaxation and there should be quick disposal of cases," Bagchhi told PTI when asked if the body seeks relaxation of environmental norms for mining.
He said the mining industry in the country is in a bad shape as there is a huge gap between demand and supply of mining professionals.
"India is sleepwalking into disaster. I should not say this. But India is closely going in to disaster because there is no direction there is no focus," he opined.
According to him, states such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala do not even have qualified engineers to oversee mining activity in the states in a sustainable way.
"Some state government undertaking may be having some mining engineers. Many states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu do not have mining engineers to monitor mines and oversee the functioning of mines."
"We require mining engineers over there in these states. Karnataka has very few engineers," he explained.
