New Delhi: Union Minister of Coal and Mines Shri G. Kishan Reddy today inaugurated the National Landslide Forecasting Centre at GSI, Dharitri Campus, Salt Lake City, Kolkata. Minister also launched the Bhusanket Web Portal and Bhooskhalan Mobile App. The programme was graced by dignitaries from various disaster management agencies and stakeholder organizations besides Director General, GSI, Shri Janardan Prasad, and other senior officials of the organisation.

The NLFC is a pioneering initiative aimed at landslide hazard mitigation in India. Soon after this inauguration, residents of Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Nilgiri districts will be benefitted from live forecasting report to be shared with them since 20th July 2024. It will in due course issue early warning bulletins for all landslide-prone states, operationalizing the regional Landslide Early Warning System (LEWS) nationwide by 2030. Equipped with advanced technology, the NLFC will provide early information to local administration and communities, update landslide inventories, and integrate real-time rainfall and slope instability data for enhanced forecasting accuracy.

The launch of the Bhusanket Web Portal marks a major step towards disaster risk reduction. This web portal will facilitate the dissemination of relevant data and information on landslide hazards, initiating short-range and medium-range landslide forecasting in the country. Integrated with the Bhusanket Web Portal, the user-friendly Bhooskhalan Mobile App will enable quick dissemination of daily landslide forecasts and allow stakeholders to share and update spatial and temporal information on landslide occurrences. The app is available on Bhusanket web portal and will soon be available on Google Play Store.

In his address, Shri G. Kishan Reddy emphasized GSI’s critical role in disaster management, particularly in landslide hazard mitigation. Minister commended the GSI officers for their dedication in establishing the NLFC and urged officers to work diligently towards fulfilling the nation’s mineral and disaster management needs, aligning with the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and achieving Viksit Bharat by 2047.

The inauguration of the NLFC, and the launch of the Bhusanket Web Portal and Bhooskhalan Mobile App, are landmark achievements for GSI and a testament to its commitment to advancing disaster preparedness and safety in India. The event underscores GSI's ongoing efforts to leverage technology and innovation for the nation's sustainable development, resource management, and disaster mitigation.

Earlier in the day, Minister visited the Geological Survey of India campus. The visit commenced at the Central Headquarters (CHQ) campus, where minister was welcomed by Director General, GSI, Shri Janardan Prasad. Minister chaired a review meeting to assess the ongoing activities and achievements of GSI. During this meeting, he underscored GSI’s pivotal role in baseline data generation, augmenting the mineral resources of the country and policies, particularly focusing on landslides, and congratulated the officers for their tireless efforts in advancing geological studies and mineralexploration.

GSI has significantly expanded from its initial focus on coal exploration to include mapping rock types, geological structures, and exploring strategic and critical minerals. Notably, the number of exploration programs for critical minerals has increased from 127 last year to 196 out of total number of 450 exploration programmes this year. The successful launch of the National Geoscience Data Repository (NGDR) and the migration of the OCBIS portal to the OCI cloud are testaments to GSI’s commitment to innovation and efficiency, stated a press release.