Environmental degradation, unabated mining across the State and the proposed development works atop the Chamundi Hills are among the several issues that would be discussed at the SEAN DEE (South East Asia Network on Disaster Management and Disaster Environmental Engineering) Workshop-2016 to be held here on July 21. SEAN DEE is a network of universities and institutions of higher learning in Nepal, Bangladesh and India initiated by University of Kassel, Germany, with an intention of initiating educational programmes on disaster management.
Apart from delegates from Nepal and Bangladesh, most of the engineering colleges in the Mysuru region and organisations working towards environmental protection would take part in the workshop. The workshop has been jointly organised by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB), bhavan’s Priyamvada Birla Institute of Management (BPBIM) and NIE College.
A.T. Bhashyam, director of BPBIM and N. Ramanuja, chairman, BVB and vice-president of NIE College told The Hindu that mining is allowed to continue across the State under the garb of licensed mining. Hence, the issue of mining would be discussed and recommendations would be sent to the government after the workshop to prohibit mining completely, they added. Prof. Shyam Sunder of NIE College said that the proposed development works atop the Chamundi Hills would destroy what is left of the ecology and environment of the hill. Terming the proposed developmental plan as “destructive,” he questioned the need for building concrete structures atop the hill by spending Rs. 80 crore.
