Editorial

We take pride in bringing out the International No-Dig Souvenir issue concurrently with the Indian Workshop scheduled on 17th November, 2004. This workshop is aimed at sensitizing the international Trenchless Fraternity about the opportunities of the application of Trenchless Techniques in the Indian subsurface network Infrastructure. Obviously this sensitization will lead to the growth in the interest levels of the fraternity members in Indian and the South Asian markets.

Region, which shelters one-sixth of the entire humankind, faces many of the present day maladies accelerating the process of degradation of the habitat. Subsurface networks are one such portions of the habitat deteriorating at an alarming pace and Trenchless Techniques have the potential to retard this degradation process.

Spread of Trenchless in this region is stymied as at one hand the stakeholders executing projects locally are unaware about the advancements in these techniques and the equipment and at the other global players undertaking such activities are under-sensitized about the possibilities available there.

Another point is of the development of the region specific techniques or modification of the global ones to suit this region. Sad state of affairs is that most of the promotional actions are conducted with a view to promote the existing techniques / equipment instead of promoting techniques suiting the regional requirements. Seldom are the efforts to gauge and understand the local needs and tailor a solution suiting the needs.

Whenever and wherever such exercises (Educating the users at one hand, understanding and tailoring solutions at other hand) have been conducted, the results have been more than encouraging.

Indian Workshop at International No-Dig 2004, at Hamburg is being conducted with this aim in mind. IndSTT has assembled a group of highly eminent speakers to present the situations and possibilities of Indian region to the participants of this event so that they can get the first hand information and take decisions with far reaching consequences.

In addition to this workshop, IndSTT has also entered in an understanding with WRc to develop uniform defect coding systems in South Asia. This in turn will be helpful to the rehabilitation Industry constituents operating in the region. I know that when we will meet in Ahoy’ Rotterdam, The Netherlands between September 19-21 2005 I will have many Indian success stories to tell the participants then. Naturally some of the readers of this editorial are bound to be the case stories then.

As four or five issues of NDI / Souvenir will be out by then and all those subscribing it will naturally be aware of these stories upon circulation. This awareness will in turn assist them to decide if they did not earlier after participating in IndSTT workshop.

*-*-*-*-*