Department of Handlooms and Textiles, Government of Tamil Nadu and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International School of Textiles and Management (SVPITM) have jointly organised a day seminar on Geosynthetics for the Tamilnadu Government Officials involving in Infrastructural Development, Members of Textiles, Civil & Real Estate associations and budding entrepreneurs.
Dr. C Rameshkumar, Director, SVPITM, welcomed the participants and informed about the initiatives made by the SVPITM and Department of Handlooms and Textiles, Government of Tamil Nadu for the 300 young and budding entrepreneurs during the recent past in the areas of Home Textiles Industrial Textiles Medical Textiles, Agro Textiles and Packaging Textiles. He stated that this seminar was arranged in Chennai focused for the benefit of the Government executives involving in Rural development, Slum clearance, Highways, Corporation and Smart city nodal officers.
Kumar Jayant, IAS, Principal Secretary Handlooms, Handicrafts, Textiles and Khadi Department, Government of Tamilnadu & Board Member-Sardar Patel Institute was the Chief Guest. He invited the participants to submit suggestions to the government, how the Geosynthetics could be utilized for infrastructural development in Tamilnadu. He narrated about the recent developments in the Geosynthetic field and cited about the training provided to the Technical Textiles entrepreneurs by the Department of Handlooms & Textiles and invited the entrepreneurs to develop new products in the technical textiles which has growth rate of 20.0 per cent per annum.
Dr. G Venkatappa Rao, Former Head- Department of Civil Engineering, IIT, Delhi, deliberated the participants titled Overview on Geosynthetics. He discussed with case studies on Environmental Protection and Infrastructural development. He displayed various products that are classified under Geosynthetics. He stated about 400 Geosynthetics products are in the market and about 200 products are utilized in Indian Market. The opportunities are very high and there are no threats for this new business penetration.
The roles of Geo synthetics as Separator, Reinforcement, Drainage, Filtration, Energy absorber Container and Barrier were shown by him with necessary product display. His lecture session includes on Woven & Nonwoven Geosynthetics, Geonet, Geo-strip and Geo-grid production process and product development.
M Venkataraman, President, International Geosynthetics Society, Indian Chapter, New Delhi, Delivered a lecture on Application of Geosynthetics. Case studies on (1) The Rock wall protection system by using steel wire rope net, (2) Erosion control material produced with top and bottom layers with nets and filled with biodegradable mulching mat/coir GARMATTM (3) Municipal solid waste and Hazardous waste management by using GeoTextiles Geo membarens and Geo nets, (4) Water resource management and canal ling,(5)Precast panel fencing,(6) Pavements and its stabilization,(7) Prefabricated vertical drains, Band drains,(8) River Shore Protection with steel & polymeric Gabions, Geotextile bags/tubes were discussed by him with reference to our country.
VK Patil, Scientist, Bombay Textile Research Association (BTRA), Mumbai handled a session on Geosynthetic Products, Applications and Advantages. The BITRA is the Centre of Excellence for the Geo textiles. He displayed various Geosynthetic products from BITRA and briefed the participants on the technical characteristics that are necessary for specific applications. Drainage composite for wall protection, Geoforms & Geotubes, Road sector present scenario and opportunities for the Geosynthetics, erosion and flood control with Geosynthetics were topics of this session.
Dr. Mahuya Ghosh, Scientist from Indian Jute Research Industries (IJIRA), Kolkata is one of a resource person stated on the application of jute interface with Geosynthetics. She interacted with the audience on Geosynthetics in infrastructural development in Cites. The comparative analysis of root proof Jute Geotextiles and Polypropylene blended Geotextiles for road construction were made by her with various case studies.
M Sudhakar, Sr. General Manager, Macca Ferri Environmental Solutions, Haryana, elaborated on the Products and Advantages in Geosynthetics. The Macca Ferri is in the manufacture of Geosynthetic products for more than two decades. Some of the company products like Graded Drainage filter, Drainage composites were displayed in the hall for the participants to understand. Apart from this some information and features of their products like Macdrain, Fin-drain, Mac-grid, Road mesh, Bio-mac (for erosion control-Coconut coir fibre) and Bio-mat. He made interesting case studies on the following pavement stabilization: Pavement stabilization in Creek Kalatalav Sanesh Road, Bhavnagar; Muck disposal From Rampur Hydroelectric Power Plant, Shimla; Construction of New Airport at Pakyong Sikkim, India; Re wall on stone column –Adani- Munda and Trivandrum; and Canal lining in Haryana.
Saurabhh Vyas, Head – Technical Services, TechFab(India) Industries Ltd, Gujarat delivered a lecture on Geosynthetic Products- Competitive Advantages with suitable case studies. The Tech Fab, is pioneer in the manufacture of Geosynthetic products. The speaker elaborated on the various certifications needed for authorizing the products. He also elaborated the participants with various projects which were taken up by the company. It includes 2.6 mn sq. mtr (1600MT) nonwovens supplied for Geo bags making under Asian Development Bank(ADB) funded project in Assam and the Pre-fabricated vertical drain in Udaipur Agarthala. He briefed the participants with the various difficulties that the company faced to find solutions for the need in.
