Dehradun (The Hawk): A two days refresher course related to the Ecology and Biodiversity started at Indian Council of Forestry, Research & Education (ICFRE), Dehradun on 09.11.2022 for the senior executives of Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI), Ranchi, a subsidiary organization of Coal India Limited. The refresher courseis being organized by the Environment Management Division, Directorate of Extension, ICFRE.
The event was inaugurated by Sh. Arun Singh Rawat, Director General, ICFRE, Dehradun. In his inaugural address, he emphasized on the importance of ecology and biodiversity in relation to mining activities.He also briefed about the strength of ICFRE and its institutes on the subject and services rendered to the Coal India Limited (CIL) and its subsidiary organizations w.r.t. management of ecology, biodiversity and coal mine environment as a whole. On the occasion, the Deputy Director General (Extn.), ICFRE spoke about the need of recent scientific methodologies for management of ecology and biodiversity in relation to the mining. He also stressed upon sustainable mining and proper eco-restoration of mined out areas with emphasis on soil and moisture conservation and enrichment of biodiversity in the mine affected areas.
The Deputy Director General (Admin.), Deputy Director General (Education), Deputy Director General (Research),Assistant Director Generals of ICFRE, Secretary, ICFRE and Scientists of ICFRE participated in the inaugural event along with senior executives from CMPDI. After the inaugural session, technical sessions covering various aspects of ecology and biodiversity with emphasis on coal mine environment were held. The scheduled technical sessions for the refresher course will also cover Integration of Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation Plans, Recent advances in eco restoration of coal mining areas, Environmental Audit and Environmental Performance Index Rating of coal mine projects, Need and importance of Strategic EIA in coal mining sector, carbon stock estimation and carbon crediting and Use of Artificial Intelligence in Management of Coal Mine Environment. Eminent subject matter experts from ICFRE and its institutes, MoEF&CC, IIT (ISM), Dhanbad and CIMFR, Dhanbad will be delivering their lectures on the respective subject during the refresher course on 09-10 November, 2022. The inaugurated session was conducted by Dr. A. N. Singh, ADG (EM), Directorate of Extension, ICFRE and vote of thanks was extended by Dr.Vishavjit Kumar, Scientist - E, Environment Management Division, Directorate of Extension, ICFRE.