21-Day DST Workshop on Geospatial Technology Inaugurated at USTM

08th Jul, 2019 135

Shri P.L.N. Raju, Director, NESAC speaking at the Inaugural of 21 day long DST Geospatial Summer School at USTM on 8 July 2019

9th Mile, Ri-Bhoi, Khanapara, 8 July 2019: Shri P.L.N. Raju, Director, North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC) today inaugurated the 21 day long Summer School on “Capacity Building in Geospatial Technologies and Applications” at the University of Science and Technology-Meghalaya. The workshop is being organized by the Department of Earth Science, USTM and sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. Researchers from all over country have come to participate in the Summer School. A total of 31 participants from Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal and the North-eastern states of India have joined the workshop.

Inaugurating the workshop, Shri PLN Raju explained about the use of space technology in various applications, right from space mission to agriculture, biodiversity, conservation, management of hazards like flood and erosion. The workshop has targeted researchers, teachers, planners, surveyors and decision makers as the main purpose of the workshop is to support planning and decision making of the government.

In a statement, Mahbubul Hoque, Chancellor of USTM said that the use of remote sensing and GIS and other geospatial technologies for planning and development is not new for India. But there is a renewed focus of its use in various aspects of life. “I am very much grateful to DST, Govt. of India for awarding this academic project for the first time in Meghalaya by selecting our University as one of the centres to conduct the programme”, he stated.

Dr Narayan Chetry, Principal Investigator of the project and Head of the Department of Earth Science at USTM said that geospatial technology can be targeted for social and community development, geospatial data structure development and locational services. The participants of the summer school are expected to be benefitted in their teaching and learning activities including research by using the modern tools and technology.