Workshop held

SHILLONG, JULY 9: A one-day Awareness Workshop on “Improvement of Highway Infrastructure and Slope Protection Measures in North Eastern Region with Innovative Concepts” was held today at SMELC Conference Hall for Civil Engineers of Garo Hills District, Soil and Water Conservation and other related departments. The programme was organised by Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research Association (ATIRA) on behalf of Office of the Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India in collaboration with Public Works Department, Government of Meghalaya.

Speaking on the occasion as Chief Guest, Deputy Commissioner, West Garo Hills Ram Singh said that considering the topography of the region, the Government of India has launched the scheme in the year 2015 mainly for the North Eastern Region which aims to control soil erosion, protection of hill slope and reservoir lining for water retention during road construction. He therefore, urged the concerned officials to utilise these scheme properly and wherever necessary with the help of technical expert adding that the scheme should not go waste like few other projects implemented in the state.

While delivering on the “Scheme for Promoting Usage of Geotechnical Textile in North Eastern Region” P S Barbora, Incharge NERC, ATIRA presented an overview of the scheme, its functions, objectives and the benefits of using Geotechnical Textile in civil engineering projects like road construction, slope protection and water reservoirs in the region. He informed that Geotechnical Textiles are technical textile products manufactured from natural and man-made fibres using woven, knitting and non-woven methods which are being used globally to address dangers to infrastructure caused by degradation and natural disasters.

Further, Barbora stated that the scheme which has been formulated by the Ministry of Textiles for promoting usage of Geotechnical Textile in the North East Region for five years from 2014-15 to 2018-19 with a financial outlay of 427 Crore has two components of which Component –I (Hard Intervention) with total outlay of Rs. 374 Crore and Component –II (Soft Interventions) with total outlay of Rs. 43 Crores. He then informed that the ultimate objective of the scheme is to promote and encourage adoption of modern, cost effective technology in North East and other regions of the country and improve the durability, function and life of infrastructure leading to savings in cost and time maintenance.

He further highlighted on the scheme implementation methodology and eligible fund support for the cost of the project by using Geotechnical Textile.

In the technical session that followed Application of Geotextile “In Civil Engineering Application” was delivered by Dr. Lakshman Rao, Geotextile Expert from Hyderabad while “Geotextile Testing” was explained by C R Prayag, Deputy Director, ATIRA, Ahmedabad.

Meanwhile, “Application of Geosynthetics in Civil Engineering Works was delivered by Nabanith Bhatnagar, Regional Head, Garewell Wall Ropes Limited from Production House, “Implementation of Geotextile Scheme in Different States of NER was highlighted by S C Sharma, Expert Engineer ATIRA, NERC and “Advanced Solutions for Drainage Issues in Pavements of North Eastern Region was delivered by Dr. Lakshman Rao, Geo Textile Expert from Hyderabad.

Earlier in the programme, Director, ATIRA, Ahmedabad M N Subramanian explained in brief about Ahmedabad Textile Industry and also about the implementation of the scheme and monitoring authorities.

Additional Chief Engineer, PWD (Roads) G K Marak, Superintending Engineer, PWD (Roads), Tura Circle Chongseng N Sangma were among others present at the workshop.