Odisha has bagged Geospatial World Excellence Award- 2018 for successful IT application for tracking of mineral production, dispatch and value accrued on real time basis through its i3MS website based software.

The Award was given by Minister of State Science & Technology, Government of India, Y.S. Chowdray in the Geospatial World Forum Meeting held at Hyderabad recently and attended by more than 3000 geospatial experts from 90 different countries of the world. Dr Pradipta Mishra , senior scientist Odisha Space Application Center (ORSAC) received the Award on behalf of Odisha government.

The GPS linked web based software named i3MS has been designed by the scientists of ORSAC, Bhubaneswar. Chief Secretary and Chairman Odisha Space Application Center, Mr Aditya Prasad Padhi congratulated scientists of ORSAC along with officers of Steel & Mines department for successful designing, application and use of this IT model.

Presently, the Steel and Mines department is watching live movement of 43000 vehicles carrying minerals from production point to ports, railway sidings and end user industrial units.

It is pertinent to note that the central government had applauded the IT intervention and recommended the model to other mineral bearing states. All the stakeholders like lessees’, dealers and Govt departments have been brought on this portal. It has also been integrated with RTO, Indian Railways, Commercial Tax, Ports and Treasury.

The daily production and dispatch is being recorded on real time basis through the software. All the mineral transporting trucks have been put under GPS surveillance and the roads as well as mines have been geo-referenced. Mishra said, “This is for the first time India that GPS devices have been fixed on a large volume of moving objects in mining sector”.

Director, Mines Deepak Mohanty said, “Till now 392 electronic weigh bridges in 136 mines, 699 weigh bridges and 325 end user industries have been integrated with the system. All e-permits and dealer licenses are being issued online through this software and issue of manual license has been abolished”. It helps curbing illegal mining activity.