Latest News | Road Transport Min Inks Pact with DRDO

New Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI) The road transport and highways ministry has inked a pact with DRDO to utilise its expertise in providing sustainable measures to mitigate landslide and avalanche hazards on the national highways.

In a written reply to Rajya Sabha on Monday, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Ministry of RTH (Road Transport and Highways) and DRDO on January 20.

The pact is intended at utilising the expertise of DRDO in providing sustainable landslide, avalanches and other geo-hazard mitigation measures on the national highways, the minister of Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs said.

According to him, Defence Geo-informatics Research Establishment (DGRE) -- a premier laboratory of DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) -- is known for its expertise in the area of landslide and snow avalanche mitigation techniques, terrain modelling and trafficability using geo spatial intelligence.

The role and charter of the DGRE is mapping, forecasting, monitoring, control and mitigation of avalanches in Indian Himalayas and landslides mapping/ monitoring in all types of terrain, he added.

Further, the minister said the pact intends to outline the general framework of collaboration between MoRTH and DGRE, including detailed investigation of the existing critical avalanches/ geo hazards such as landslides, slope instability, sinking problems etc. It will also outline planning, designing and formulation of sustainable mitigation measures for geo-hazards for the national highways, including tunnels.

The cooperation will be monitored through joint periodic half-yearly review and each party will provide funding to their own personnel, Gadkari said.

The initiative is expected to evolve a long-term strategy for sustainable geo-hazard mitigation measures on the national highways, which will result in safer transportation for commuters, he noted.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)