Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Thursday inaugurated India’s first Open Rock Museum displaying around 35 different types of rocks from different parts of India with ages ranging from 3.3 billion years to around 55 million years of the Earth’s history.
The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, is on a two-day visit to Andhra Pradesh.
The Open Rock Museum is set up with the aim to educate and enlighten the masses about several lesser known facts about the rocks that represent the deepest part of the earth up to 175 km of distance from the surface of the earth, the Union Earth Science Ministry said in a release.
“Big Earth data occupies the strategic high ground in the era of knowledge economies and India is fully exploiting this new frontier contributing to the advancement of Earth science… geosciences is contributing significantly towards the self-reliance and national priorities in New India,” Dr Jitendra Singh said, while addressing scientists at the CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI).
The minister also pointed out that CSIR is celebrating 80 years of its foundation and it is the right time that all ministries and departments who are pursuing science should explore S&T innovations for making India self-reliant in many of the sectors.
Dr Jitendra Singh also released Earthquake Risk Maps of Lucknow and Dehradun Cities and handed over the maps to the Chairpersons or nominees of UPSDMA and UKSDMA on the occasion. He informed that CSIR-NGRI has made earthquake risk maps for Lucknow and Dehradun cities which are vulnerable for future earthquakes in the Indo-Gangetic plains area.
The risk maps were prepared by characterising the hazard and its uncertainty, to serve as input for risk assessment and earthquake resistant design for different applications – ranging from private homes to multi-storied buildings and critical infrastructures such as bridges or dams, he added.
Both the maps were shared with Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh State Disaster Management authorities who are the main stakeholders. They agreed to use the outcome for revising land use maps with revised hazard components and revise building bye-laws to outlaw unsafe and vulnerable typologies of houses in both the cities, the ministry added.
