Home Minister Amit Shah likely to visit space applications centre in Shillong on July 17

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to visit the North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC) in Shillong on July 17 to review the functioning of the space science and technology centre of the region.

The NESAC, a joint initiative of the Department of Space (DOS) and the North Eastern Council (NEC), helps augment the process of development in the region by providing advanced space technology support.

Being the chairman of the NEC, the Union home minister is also the president of the NESAC Society.

Shah is likely to visit the NESAC on July 17 to review its functioning, officials said on Sunday, reported news agency PTI.

The chief ministers of all the northeastern States, Union minister Jitendra Singh and top officials of the central and state governments are expected to attend the event.

Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Secretary of the Department of Space K Sivan, who is also the chairman of the NESAC Governing Council, may attend it as well.

The home minister is expected to take stock of the plan of action of the NESAC envisaged for all the northeastern states and the progress of the works.

During his last visit to Shillong, Shah had chaired a meeting of the NESAC and gave a few action plans for implementation.

He is expected to review the progress of the tasks, the officials said.

Shah is also scheduled to attend a closed-door meeting with the chief ministers of all northeastern states at the NESAC campus.

The NESAC is located at picturesque Umiam, about 20 km from Shillong. It is a well-equipped state-of-the-art facility in the areas of remote sensing and geographical information system, disaster management, satellite communication and space and atmospheric science research.

The Centre has provided more than 20 years of dedicated service to the eight northeastern states using space science and technology.

The major objectives of the NESAC are: to provide an operational remote sensing and geographic information system-aided natural resource information base to support activities on development, management of natural resources and infrastructure planning in the region.

It provides operational satellite communication application services in the region in education, healthcare, disaster management support and developmental communication.

The other objectives include taking up research in the space and atmospheric science area, establishing an instrumentation hub and networking with various academic institutions of the region to enable single-window delivery of all possible space-based support for disaster management and set up regional-level infrastructure for capacity building in the field of geospatial technology.

(Wih inputs from news agencies)