Asom Govt seeks IIT help for development

Guwahati, May 25 (UNI) The Asom government today sought Guwahati IIT's cooperation for solving perennial problems like floods, landslides and other natural disasters in the state.

Delivering his address at the ninth Convocation of the IIT, Asom Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the state government is looking for inputs in environment management, preserving and exploiting the rich bio-resources as well as helping the farmers to achieve higher levels of productivity and income.

''After many years, Asom is in a position to take up development initiatives meaningfully and vigorously, and I call upon the Guwahati IIT to contribute to the endeavours of the state government,'' he said.

Mr Gogoi said a plan has been mooted to set up a biotechnology and information technology park in the vicinity of the IIT, and inputs from the institute will be important to ensure the success of the park.

He also lauded the contribution of the IIT to the planning of the drainage system of Guwahati as well as establishing the Asom State Wide Area Network and community service centers all over the state.

A total of 422 students of the institute received their BTech, BDes, MSc, MTech and PhD degrees from the institute's director Prof Gautam Bora.

While Y Praveen Kumar of the department of Electronics and Communication Engineering received the President of India Gold Medal, Mechanical Engineering student Nakul Singh Shekhawat bagged the Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma Gold Medal for the year.

Earlier, in his inaugural address, chairman of the board of governors, Dr M K Bhan underlined that science should work towards sustainable development and not destructive development.

'' While India is investing, the West is capitalizing on the intellectual property. The institutions should understand this and adopt a new approach to create stable creative teams of resources,'' he said.

Dr Bhan called upon the scientists, engineers and designers not to get complacent and challenge their own ability for higher goals.

UNI