Bihar to host IRC meet in Nov

Bihar would host the 70th annual session of the Indian Road Congress (IRC) from November 14-17. Around 2,000 top engineers from across the country would congregate in Patna to take part in the four-day session being held in the state after a gap of 17 years.

The state government has sanctioned Rs 2.42 crore for organizing the annual show which comprises several technical sessions during which experts would present their papers on different aspects of road and bridge constructions.

Bihar engineers, too, have been asked to submit their research papers in the session and entries are likely to come in a month.

Debates would also be organized in which participants would raise questions on different topics and experts from the respective fields would answer them.

Set up in 1934 with the objective of developing roads in the country, the IRC is a premier technical body of highway engineers in the country.

The activities of the IRC has expanded over the years and it has now grown into a multi-dimensional organisation. It provides a national forum for sharing of knowledge and pooling of experience on the entire range of subjects dealing with construction and maintenance of roads and bridges, including research, planning and technology.

IRC also proposes standard specifications for road and bridge constructions which are followed by agencies across the country.

"The annual session in Patna would offer a great opportunity to Bihar engineers as they can share quality time with technical experts from across the nation," local organizing secretary of the IRC's 70th annual session Babban Ram told.

He said that the state would use the session to share its experiences in road and bridge constructions with experts from outside. Besides, it would also solicit their suggestions to further improve its performance on this front.

The state would also urge the experts to visit few sites facing problems and suggestions would be solicited from them for finding a long-lasting solution.

"Gandhi Setu is one of the prospective sites to which experts would be urged to pay a visit as the problems in this important bridge is a big issue in the state," Ram said and added that experts' advice on this important bridge would be of immense help in improving its condition.link