NIT student comes up with guidelines for restoration work post floods

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 5

A civil engineering student, Saqib Gulzar, at National Institute of Technology (NIT), Srinagar, has come up with guidelines for repair, restoration, retrofitting and rebuilding of structures in flood-affected areas of Jammu & Kashmir under the guidance of Prof AR Dar, Head of the Civil Engineering Department.

Gulzar recently released a book, which includes the guidelines. He said in wake of the extensive devastation caused due to the September 2014 floods, students at NIT, Srinagar, aimed to come up with preliminary guidelines followed by comprehensive and exhaustive guidelines pertaining to the repair and restoration of flood-damaged structures.

“After continuous deliberations, we decided to incorporate seismic retrofitting guidelines as well owing to the fact that parts of Jammu & Kashmir fall under the high-risk earthquake zone, thereby intending to make flood-damaged structures earthquake-resistant,” he said.

“However, the present structural design and construction practice in Jammu & Kashmir do not take into account the effects of floods and the related problems of water inundation, which make it further important to include potential flood resistant design practices and sustainable rebuilding measures to be adopted during the reconstruction of fully damaged as well as new structures,” he added.

Gulzar had won the Best Paper Award for his work on Jhelum in January 2014 at an international conference and since then he has been working on different fronts to help the people of Jammu & Kashmir.

“The support and encouragement of Rajat Gupta, Director, NIT, Srinagar, FA Mir, Registrar, NIT, Srinagar, AR Dar, AQ Dar, MS Mir, SK Bukhari and my family has been an impetus all along. I dedicate these guidelines to the people of Jammu & Kashmir,” Gulzar added.