Guwahati: Now, drone technology will be imparted to government officers in Assam by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-G) as part of a training programme on settlement and survey. The IIT-G and the Assam Survey and Settlement Training Centre (ASSTC) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate and offer mutual support in training ASSTC officers.
The premier technology institute of the country will conduct courses related to drone operations, training, maintenance, data collection and application in various sectors, theory classes on modern land management, and research and projects by leveraging their respective expertise in this area.
“This is the first instance across the country where training on drone technology will be imparted to all levels of officers. It is a unique step to integrate knowledge-based technological advancement as part of the training curriculum for state officials,” a statement from the institute said.
It may be recalled that drones developed by one of the start-ups at IIT-G had featured in a drone show at the Republic Day programme in the Kamrup district this year.
The memorandum was signed in the presence of Assam revenue and disaster management minister Jogen Mohan at the office of ASSTC in Dakhingaon here.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister said, “In this new era of technology and education, this MoU is a great step towards helping the region. I thank IIT Guwahati for this collaboration. This will help the region and encourage people to work for the development of the region.”
Within the framework of the MoU with ASSTC, IIT-G will impart training to the government administrative and technical staff in survey and settlement as well as among private candidates.
Both ASSTC and IIT-G will work closely to collaborate and co-operate with each other to support the needs of the ASSTC officers and select manpower as mentors and trainees.
Speaking on the significance of the collaboration, IIT-G director Prof. T. G. Sitharam said, “We are delighted to extend our services to the region through the heritage organisation, ASSTC, and be associated with its activities. IIT-G specifically recognises this futuristic step and we look forward to technology-based networking and academic training programmes both on campus as well as on-site and support other technology-based initiatives for the socio-economic benefit of the state and region.”
The duration of course work (both practical and theory) will be of one week for Recorder’s Certificate Class Course (RCCC) students and four days for officer’s class including one examination/submission of project report/presentation at the end of the session conducted by IIT Guwahati.
For the Northeast, a region vulnerable to various natural calamities such as floods, landslides, land erosion by rivers, drone-based technologies can be extremely useful for land survey, river mapping, forest cover, agriculture sector, highway/traffic monitoring, border surveillance, etc. by providing real-time information and data at a time scale not possible manually or by other means.
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