Vivek Bharadwaj, secretary, Ministry of Mines, visited the Geological Survey of India's (GSI), central headquarters in Kolkata on October 19. Dr S. Raju, director-general, GSI, along with other senior officers welcomed him.
Dr Raju explained the major frontline activities and achievements of GSI. He said all the commitments made by GSI, in the thrust areas of baseline survey and mineral exploration related high priority areas, will be completed as per schedule. A detailed presentation was made by Asit Saha, deputy director-general, policy support system - planning and monitoring.
In his interaction with GSI officials, Bharadwaj discussed various issues and emphasized the completion of flagship baseline survey works like the National Geochemical Mapping, National Geophysical Mapping and National Aero-geophysical Mapping Programme within the specified timeline. He advised the officials to look beyond borders and emphasized that study groups may be formed to explore the advancements and strategic thrust areas taken up by geological surveys in other developed countries of the world. He also advised GSI to adopt the best practices available in the world and try to innovate upon that.
Inspecting GSI’s commitment to the Special Campaign 2.0 programme, Bharadwaj instructed all concerned to take it up with utmost sincerity.
Bharadwaj reiterated that being a 172-year-old organisation, GSI should put its efforts into bringing out the best performance in the domain of geosciences and set high standards of professionalism. He also committed all possible support from the ministry.