The weeklong celebration of CSIR-IIP’s One Week One Lab campaign concluded on 19th April 2023. On the last and final day, the campaign marked an exciting event, “Meeting with Uttarakhand State Govt. Functionaries”, followed by the Valedictory function. The event witnessed Sh. Pushkar Singh Dhami (Chief Minister of Uttarakhand) as the chief guest (virtually), Prof. Durgesh Pant (DG, UCOST) as the guest of honour, and Prof. Pradeep Kumar (Director, CSIR-CBRI) as the special guest.
On the 7th day of its “One Week One Lab” campaign, CSIR-IIP organized a meeting with the Uttarakhand State Govt. Functionaries at its laboratory campus. The program was initiated with Saraswati Vandana, followed by a presentation on the offerings of CSIR-IIP for the development of Uttarakhand. The technology presentations were made for Room temperature bio-diesel, Bio-aviation fuel, Waste plastics to fuel, Domestic PNG burner, Biomass Chulha, Improved Gur Bhatti, Medical Oxygen plants and Compressed bio-gas into pipeline quality natural gas technologies by eminent scientists of CSIR-IIP. The forum was then open for the discussion with the state government functionaries. The event was attended by Dr Deepak Kumar (Sec. program Implementation Govt. UK), Dr Vijay Kumar Jogdande (Sec. Skill development Govt. UK), Mr Rajendra Kumar (Deputy Director, Dept. of Industry Govt. UK). The event also witnessed the participation of Directors from different Government Institutes of Uttarakhand, namely, Dr Sudhir Kumar (NIH, Roorkee), Dr M K Gupta (CPPRI, Saharanpur), Dr Kalachand Sain (WIHG, Dehradun), Dr Abhishek Rajvansh (CIPET, Dehradun), Dr R Pradeep Kumar (CBRI, Roorkee), Mr B M Tripathi (KDMIP, ONGC Dehradun), Mr Gautam Dikshit (ONGC, Dehradun), and Dr P P Gothwal (Head CFTRI Lucknow Branch). The guests presented their views on the offerings by CSIR-IIP and complimented the Director CSIR-IIP for taking up such an initiative.
Prof. Deepak Kumar said that an R&D institution like CSIR-IIP should reach out to the government bodies with their technologies for the sustainable development of the Uttarakhand state and make it a model state. Dr Vijay Kumar Jogdande focused on utilizing 20–25% reduced derived fuel (RDF) from municipal solid waste (MSW). He also talked about the scaling up of existing technologies for waste management to mitigate the energy crisis and make the technologies more affordable and accessible. Dr Kalachand Sain, Director of WADIA Institute of Himalayan Geology, appreciated the technologies developed at CSIR-IIP and insisted on developing hybrid processes for the systematic and viable utilization of energy using static and dynamic sources. Dr Sudhir Kumar, Director NIH Roorkee, talked about the impact of climate change on rivers and glaciers. He addressed that energy from natural resources can efficiently reduce carbon footprints. Dr Abhishek Rajvansh, Director CIPET Dehradun, discussed the need for R&D on plastics other than polyethene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) to make fuel and its viable disposal efficiently. He also appealed to share the research facilities available at CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum and CIPET to make the technologies for the development of Uttarakhand. Dr Gautam Dikshit, Group General Manager ONGC, KDMIP, insisted on developing robust models to enhance the connectivity of Scientists and students in rural areas and farmers. Dr M. K. Gupta, Director of CPPRI Saharanpur, stressed the segregation of dry waste into paper and non-paper waste so that it could be efficiently recycled as it will help reduce the import cost of paper.
Subsequently, the OWOL campaign was concluded with the valedictory function. Dr Anjan Ray, Director CSIR-IIP, presented the summary of the week-long OWOL program. He also suggested five key points: the task force for waste to wealth, reduction in per capita water use, standards for the industry and domestic purpose, livelihood generation for grassroots, rural climate health system, and GEP measurement parameters.
Chief Minister, Uttarakhand Sh. Pushkar Singh Dhami could not attend the event in person due to his urgent commitments but greeted the august gathering through his video message. The CM, in his message, applauded the efforts made by CSIR-IIP towards the development of socio-economic technologies. He also thanked CSIR-IIP for adopting the villages at Champawat Block and for going beyond the limits to make ADARSH CHAMPAWAT a model block. He also urged CSIR-IIP scientists to develop technologies to mitigate the problems of forest fires, crop storage, and pollution from the transportation of fruits & vegetables.
Prof. Durgesh Pant, DG UCOST, stressed on creation of a state-level task force from the leading R&D institute in Uttarakhand and government administration. It will improve the quality of life in rural areas and the state as a whole. He also emphasized the gross environmental product (GEP) for the development of the state using the refinement of four factors: soil, forests, water, and air.
Prof. R. Pradeep Kumar, Director CBRI Roorkee, appreciated the efforts made by CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum to organize this seven-day OWOL program. He congratulated CSIR-IIP on developing medical-grade oxygen that helped people during the COVID-19 pandemic. He urged the gathering to differentiate between one’s general needs and expectations and stressed on improving our lifestyle. He said that without a change in our lifestyle, no technology could bring about a sustainable change in society that could lessen environmental harm.
Mr Anjum Sharma, Sr. CoA, CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum, proposed the vote of thanks. Dr Kritika Kohli compeered today’s event, and Dr G D. Thakre coordinated the program. The guests then visited the state-of-the-art lab facilities and indigenous technology-based pilot plants like Bio-Jet fuel, waste plastic to diesel, room temperature bio-diesel, and medical-grade oxygen plants.
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