SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, July 15: A senior professor and entomologist of the Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University (BBMKU), Dr B K Sinha, has found an insect called ‘Collembola’ which helps in making the coal mines overburden dumps green again.
The research is being seen as a major breakthrough for the coal mines sector which is struggling with barren and dead high hills made of overburden (coal mines’ reject of stone and clay) in the mining area.
Internationally acclaimed entomologist Dr B K Sinha while shedding light on his research said that plants need a large number of nutrients like carbon and nitrogen for survival. ‘Collembola’ insect has the quality to provide the plants with these nutrients. On the plain land, Collembola lives under clay and helps plants to grow. Similarly, it can provide carbon and nitrogen to the plants on the overburden dump to grow,” said Dr Sinha.
Dr Sinha has been invited to the 26th International Congress of Entomology to be held in Helsinki (Finland) from July 19 – 24 to put up his outstanding research paper.
This is the third time that Dr BK Sinha has been invited to the International Congress of Entomology. Earlier, he had attended the Congress in Australia in 2016 and the virtual Congress held in the USA in 2021. Due to Covid, the USA Congress was held virtually. He got appreciation from the entomologists from across the globe at USA Congress 2021.
The coal mines sector in the country, especially Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Central Coal Field Limited (CCL) and Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL) mines of Coal India Limited, are facing major environmental problems due to the increasing numbers of high and barren overburden dumps.
In Dhanbad, the overburden dumps have made a hazardous situation in Jharia, Katras Baghmara, Govindpur, and Nirsa Township.
The dead high hills of coal mines-rejected debris are not only an environmental problem but also dangerous for miners. In December 2016, one such hill caved in the Rajmahal Colliery of Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL) in the Godda district in which 23 miners were buried alive.
Though some coal companies including Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) have tried to turn the overburdened hills into green gardens by planting saplings, it came with high costs.
But now, the coal mines experts feel that the research of Dr B K Sinha will be a revolution in combating this perennial problem.
Dr B K Sinha, the professor of geology cum the principal of PK Roy Memorial College Dhanbad, found the insect after 25 years of continuous research in Kathara Coal Mines of Central Coalfield Limited (CCL).
“I collected four samples from four overburden dumps in Kathara Colliery for my research. The first dump was five years old, the second was 15 years, the third was 30 years and 4th was 50 years old. After a comprehensive analysis, I found that the ‘Collembola’ insect was helpful in providing nutrients to plants on overburden too,” said Prof Sinha.
Dr Sinha, who shifted to Dhanbad in 2017, had been in Bokaro and preferred Kathara coal mines’ overburden for research rather than BCCL in Dhanbad. “I got massive help from CCL authorities in conducting the research,” he said.
