ANS: IIT-ISM Dhanbad will soon have a Regional Geodesy Centre (RGC), which will carry out the study of subsidence-prone areas developed due to coal mining and other associated mining activities.
Construction works for the center, which is being established near the seismological observatory, is going at a fast pace, and it is likely to be operational by the end of August, informed Rajni Singh, Dean, Media & Branding of ISM.
Geodesy is the science of accurately measuring the shape, size, orientation and mass distribution and how these vary with time. It deals with the precise measurement of elements on the surface of the earth and their treatment for the determination of their geographic positions on the surface of the earth.
Giving details, Dr Vasanta Govind Kumar Villuri, Associate Professor of Mining Engineering at IIT-ISM) who is also the principal investigator (PI) of the project of the Department of Science & Technology, said, “The center being established with a fund of Rs 1.5 crore provided by the Department of Science & Technology will operate in close coordination with the Seismological Observatory of the institute and other relevant facilities of Department of Applied Geophysics, Applied Geology and Mining Engineering.”
“The literature work for the launching of centre has been going for over a year in consultation with the National Geodesy Centre (NGC) at IIT Kanpur, where we carried out several visits,” said Professor Villuri.
“Similar regional centres for Geodesy are being established simultaneously in Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT) Allahabad; IIT Bombay; Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram; Anna University, Chennai and Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal,” she added.
Divulging more details, Professor Villuri, whose area of research interest is in the field of Surveying, Photogrammetry, Remote sensing, Image Processing, GIS, GPS and Hydrology, said, “The project being implemented under the guidance of Professor Dheeraj Kumar, Deputy Director of IIT (ISM) as its patron is aimed to carry out the study in the field of Geodesy, Subsidence in Mining areas and natural hazards etc. in early stage and later on we can move to other fields like the movement of tectonic plates etc. as per the direction of the concerned authorities,” added Professor Srinivas Pasupuleti, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering department is working as Co-Principal Investigator (Co PI) of the project
“The data generated and analyzed during the study will be used for the study of research scholars as well as B Tech and M Tech students,” said Villuri adding, “the presence of Seismological Observatory at IIT (ISM) will be added advantage for the upcoming Regional Centre for Geodesy for collation of data etc.”
The study of the subsidence areas will be useful for the Mining companies operational in different parts of Jharkhand and elsewhere as well as for city planners as it will help in subsidence zone mapping etc. which will help for the smooth execution of upcoming infrastructure projects etc.
“At Regional Geodesy Centre we will be carrying out close monitoring of the subsidence-prone areas and movements taking place in different subsidence-prone areas across Jharkhand and elsewhere, primarily caused due to Mining activities etc.” she added.