Bhubaneswar: Orissa has bagged Geospatial World Excellence Award-2018 for successful IT application for tracking of mineral production, dispatch and value accrued on real time basis through its i3MS website based software.
The Award was presented by Union Minister of State Science and Technology YS Chowdray in the Geospatial World Forum Meeting held at Hyderabad recently and attended by more than 3,000 geospatial experts from 90 different countries.
Dr Pradipta Mishra, senior scientist Orissa Space Application Center (ORSAC) received the Award on behalf of the state government.
The GPS linked web based software named i3MS has been designed by the scientists of ORSAC, Bhubaneswar under the guidance of Principal Secretary Steel & Mines Raj Kumar Sharma and ORSAC CEO Sandeep Tripahty and Director Mines Deepak Mohanty.
Chief Secretary and Chairman Orissa Space Application Centre Aditya Prasad Padhi has congratulated scientists of ORSAC along with officers of Steel and Mines department for successful designing, application and use of this IT model. Presently, the Steel and Mines department is watching live movement of 43,000 vehicles carrying minerals from production point to ports, railway sidings and end user industrial units.
The Government of India also applauded the outcomes of this IT intervention by Orissa and recommended the model to be followed in other states. All the stakeholders like lessees’, dealers and government departments have been brought on this portal.
It has also been integrated with RTO, Indian Railways, Commercial Tax, Ports and Treasury. The daily production and dispatch is being recorded on real time basis through the software.
All the mineral transporting trucks have been put under GPS surveillance and the roads as well as mines have been geo-referenced.
A geospatial scientist Mishra said “this is for the first time in India that GPS devices have been fixed on a large number of moving objects in mining sector”.
Director, Mines Deepak Mohanty said, “Till now 392 electronic weigh bridges in 136 mines, 699 weigh bridges and 325 end user industries have been integrated with the system. All e-permits and dealer licenses are being issued online through the software and issue of manual license has been abolished,” he said and added that the GPS based IT application has helped curtailing illegal mining activities in the state.
PNN
