Brief Report of 27th National Convention of Civil Engineers

The Chhattisgarh State Centre of the Institution in association with the National Institute of Technology, Raipur, organized the 27th National Convention of Civil Engineers on the theme "Integrated Development of Towns as Growth Centres" during October 15 - 16, 2011 at Raipur. The Chief Gauest, Mr. Dharamlal Ji Kaushik, Speaker, Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha, in his inaugural address, spoke about the development of Chhattisgarh from time to time and mentioned about the development of Naya Raipur and its planning. Mr. G. Prabhakar, President, IEI and Mr. S.L. Garg, President-Elect, IEI, graced the occasion.

Mr. Prabhakar while delivering his address to the august gathering, highlighted the valuable role of engineers for the development of the country Mr. Garg delivered lecture on the integrated growth of towns and its necessity Mr. Ashok Basa, Chairman, CVDB, IEI, spoke about civil engineering in general and engineering profession in particular. He also highlighted various activities of this important division. Dr. (Mrs) Shashi Krishna Pandey, Director, NIT, Raipur and the Special Guest on this occasion, stressed the need for integrated growth of towns in view of influx of rural population to the cities. Mr. C.S. Prasad, Director General, CPWD, delivered the prestigious ‘Dr. K.L. Rao Memorial Lecture’ and mentioned that integrated development of small and medium towns was the need of the hour. Mr. S.S. Bajaj, CEO, Naya Raipur Development Authority, Raipur, delivered the State-of-the-Art Lecture on the topic 'Need for Sustainable Urban Transport System'. Eminent Engineers, namely, Mr. S.G. Joglekar, Vice President, Stup Consultant (P) Ltd; Prof. Dinesh Chandra, Dean, Raipur Institute of Technology, Raipur; Mr. M.L. Haldkar, Chief Engineer, Rural Engineering Services, Government of Chhattisgarh; and Mr. R.P. Indoria, Director General, PWD Development & Special Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India, (in absentia), were felicitated for their valuable contributions in the field of Civil Engineering. Dr. Subimal Ghosh, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay; Dr. (Ms) D. Neelima Satyam, Assistant Professor, Earthquake Engineering Research Centre, IIIT, Hyderabad and Dr. Priyanka Ghosh, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kanpur, received the ‘IEI young Engineers Award’ in the field of Civil Engineering for the year 2011-12. Earlier, Mr. S.N. Taori, Chairman of the Centre, welcomed the dignitaries and the participants. Mr K K Verma, Honorary Secretary of the Centre, also present on this occasion. Mr. L.N. Tiwari, Organizing Secretary, proposed the vote of thanks. A large number of papers on various sub-themes were presented and discussed during technical sessions.