The 2018 flood in Kerala served as an eye-opener for the state, shedding light on the need for resilient and sustainable infrastructure to withstand such catastrophes in the future. In this context, the then Hon. Minister Sri. G. Sudhakaran put forward the idea of launching a national technical conference. Subsequently, KHRI took charge of conducting the National Conference on Resilient Infrastructure to strengthen the technical and operational capacity of implementing institutions and agencies of the state. Furthermore, to ensure the resilience and durability of public infrastructure, NCRI could act as a medium to introduce them to innovative and modern technologies in addition to modifications to current designs and practices.
KHRI organised NCRI 2020 on the 17th and 18th of December 2020, with a vision to bring forward the latest research activities in resilient infrastructure development to meet the real need of the hour.
Shri. G. Sudhakaran, the then Hon. Minister for Public Works inaugurated the conference. Various eminent personalities like Shri. Anand Singh IAS (Secretary, PWD), Dr Tom V. Mathew (Professor, IIT Palakkad), Prof. P. B. Sunilkumar (Director, IIT P), Shri. Thomas John (Joint Director, KHRI) and Chief Engineers of PWD - Smt. Madhumathi K. R. and Smt. Beena L further graced the occasion. The other attendees included all the Chief Engineers and Superintending Engineers of PWD, Faculties and Students from IIT Palakkad and other premier institutes in India, engineers and technical staff of PWD, and the registered participants and general public. We conducted all the proceedings online, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.