REGIONAL REPORT DFI of India Dr. K.S. Rama Krishna, DFI India Chair [email protected] DFI of India has embarked on several activities in 2015, including forming a DFI of India executive committee, holding quarterly technical workshops, initiating the DFI India News Quarterly, and continuing operator training and technology implementation initiatives. The first quarter workshop was held in Bhubaneswar in April, and the second is planned for Surathkal in Karnataka State in July. Our annual conference and workshop — Deep Foundation Technologies for Infrastructure Development in India — will be held September 28-30 in Bengaluru, and the fourth workshop will be in Baroda, Gujarat, in November. More details on these activities are provided below. DFI of India Executive Committee Subsequent to the signing of an affiliation agreement with DFI and preparing draft bylaws, DFI of India constituted its first executive committee comprised of 18 members representing all the stakeholders of the deep foundations industry in India. This executive committee is similar to the DFI Board of Trustees. The executive committee meets monthly by conference call to plan and guide various activities of DFI of India. A few executive committee members have also agreed to assume additional roles to coordinate various initiatives such as seminars, workshops, research programs, implementation of new technologies, operator and frontline staff training, etc. DFI of India News Quarterly A significant initiative by DFI of India has been creating a web-based newsletter to promote the professional practice and growth of the deep foundation and geotechnical engineering industry in India. There are several mature foundation technologies that are not tapped for accelerating the development of India’s much needed infrastructure, there is technologically advanced, productive and safe foundation equipment that has yet to be used in India, and there are many individuals and companies doing innovative and challenging foundation and geotechnical works in India that go unnoticed or unpublished. DFI of India News intends to capture all of this news and information to present to the Indian geotechnical engineer. I wish to congratulate I. V. Anirudhan for his tireless efforts in producing an innovative and eye-catching design for the newsletter, and Dr. Sunil Basarkar, Y. Harikrishna and Ravi Kiran Vaidya for lending their unstinted support to ensure that the newsletter is a success. Workshop on Pile Foundations - Advances In Design and Construction Practices DFI of India, in association with the Indian Geotechnical Society- Bhubaneswar Chapter (IGS-BBSR Chapter), organized this successful workshop on April 25 at the Institution of Engineers in Odisha State Center, Bhubaneswar. Thanks to the excellent and untiring efforts of Dr. Laxmi Kanta Tripathy, honarary secretary of IGS-BBSR Chapter, who was the organising secretary of the workshop, and Dr. Sunil Basarkar, general manager, ITD Cementation, Mumbai, the DFI of India coordinator of the DFI of India Executive Committee Chairman: Dr. K.S. Rama Krishna, senior geotechncial and project consultant, Chennai Vice Chairman: I. V. Anirudhan, director, geotechncial solutions, Chennai Executive Committee Members: Arvind Shrivastava, chief engineer designs, Nuclear Power Corporation of India, Mumbai Dr. Sunil Basarkar, general manager, ITD Cementation, Mumbai Dr. V. Balakumar, senior consultant, Simplex Infrastructure Professor S. R. Gandhi, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai Y. Hari Krishna, director, Keller Ground Engineering India, Chennai Jagpal Singh Lotay, managing director, Bauer Equipment India Jeyson J Samuel, deputy general manager, L&T GeoStructure, Chennai Dr. Kumar Pitchumani, technical director, AECOM India, Chennai Laxmi Kanta Tripathy, assistant executive engineer, Department of Water Resources, Odisha, Bhubaneswar Professor Manoj Datta, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi Mohan Ramanathan, managing director, Advanced Construction Technologies, Chennai Dr. Niranjan Swarup, director-higher education, Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC), New Delhi Ravikiran Vaidya, principal, Geo Dynamics, Vadodara Professor A. Sreeramarao, president, Indian Geotechnical Society (IGS), Kakinada Surajit Mukherjee, managing director, Suretch Infrastructure, Mumbai Professor BVS Viswanadham, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai
