Mangaluru: The National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal, and the directorate general of mines safety (DGMS) have signed a MoU to strengthen collaboration in the areas of mining safety, research and development, knowledge exchange, capacity building, and technical education.The MoU signed by Prof B Ravi, director, NITK Surathkal, and Surjeet Katewa, director of mines safety (HQ), DGMS headquarters, representing DGMS was executed on Wednesday, and will provide a framework for collaborative projects between the two organisations over the next three years.Prof Rajib Pal, HGML chair professor, played a key role in facilitating and liaising between DGMS and NITK and in bringing the two organisations together for the MoU. The collaboration aims to facilitate joint projects in education, research, development, and outreach, with both organisations agreeing to share complementary resources, including personnel, facilities, expertise, and know-how.The MoU provides for collaboration across a wide range of research and development areas, including advanced mining technologies, occupational health and safety, geomechanics, automation and AI, airborne dust prevention, mine ventilation, mine water treatment, ground control, safety management plans, numerical modeling, mine air quality assessment, and development of a national database for occupational health and safety in Indian mines.Under the knowledge partnership, NITK will serve as a knowledge partner to DGMS in areas such as technical guidance during investigations of accidents and dangerous occurrences, standardization of scientific studies, development of standards and guidelines for mining equipment and machinery, technical assistance in scientific and R&D instrumentation, preparation of question banks for competency examinations, and other occupational health and safety matters. The partnership will also promote training and short courses for DGMS officers, covering areas like safety, sustainability, geomechanics, ventilation, fire hazards, environmental subjects, numerical modeling, mine automation and AI, drone applications, data analytics, safety engineering, and offshore/deep-sea mining technologies.
