Stone laid for NCCR in Visakhapatnam

Union Minister of Science and Technology, Environment, Forest and Climate Changes and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan, on Friday laid the foundation for the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) and Training Facility for India Meteorology Department (IMD) at the Dolphin Hills here.

Speaking on the occasion, Vice Admiral and Chief of Staff of Eastern Naval Command (ENC) MS Pawar highlighted the symbiotic relationship of the Indian Navy with all the research activities related to coasts, oceans, and meteorology.

"The threats to our coastline are not limited to terrorism emanating from neighbourhood countries alone but also pertaining to coastal erosion, inundation during cyclones of Tsunamis and rise in sea levels due to climate change," Pawar said.

"The NCCR research facility will be of great use to enable understanding of the way different oceanic factors interface and interact with the coast. This would help plan developmental Activities and also help in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations," he added.

The proposed facility at the NCCR will have researchers, scientists, and oceanographers from National Institute for Ocean Technology (NIOT) for unraveling the series of coastal processes leading to various coastal phenomena like erosion, storm surge, mangroves, fisheries, and also other issues related to Ocean Engineering for raising coastal structures like ports among other things. Besides, the Centre will also have a training facility for both NCCR and IMD.