IIT Gandhinagar to augment Fire Safety Engineering and research

The new lab facility will aid research and testing efforts in enhancing Fire Safety in the country

Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) is going to augment its efforts in Fire Safety Engineering by establishing a new fire testing lab and undertaking multiple scholarly activities to boost research and development in the area of fire safety in the country.

Mukesh Shah, Managing Partner in the Ahmedabad-based Shah Bhogilal Jethalal & Bros (AAAG India), one of India's leading fire fighting equipment manufacturers, has provided generous support for this cause. In appreciation of his gesture, the Institute will name its new fire-testing research lab as the ‘Shah Bhogilal Jethalal Laboratory for Passive Fire System Testing’, in memory of Shri Mukesh Shah’s grandfather and founder of the Shah Bhogilal Jethalal & Bros.

IITGN pursues high-impact research and quality education in the field of safety with its Centre for Safety Engineering (CSE), which is committed to promoting a culture of safety and is mainly focused on fire safety. The first facade fire test facility in South Asia was also established at IITGN in collaboration with Underwriters Laboratory, USA. The new lab will help enhance fire safety in high-rise buildings, airports, metro rail, and other infrastructure projects through critical testing of building elements.

With this, the Institute is also going to multiply various activities of the Centre for Safety Engineering with a special emphasis on Fire Safety Engineering. These will include laboratory development and augmentation, teaching of courses, inviting eminent scholars as visiting professors or scholars-in-residence, and organising seminars, conferences, or other scholarly endeavours in this area.

Speaking on the new collaboration for advancing Fire Safety Engineering, Prof Amit Prashant, Officiating Director, IITGN, said, “With rapidly evolving usage of different kinds of materials in residential and industrial projects, advanced research and education in fire safety engineering is the need of the hour to understand and be prepared for the future challenges in different fire hazard scenarios. With more than nine decades of experience in firefighting equipment manufacturing, we are very glad that Shah Bhogilal Jethalal & Bros and Shri Mukesh Shah chose IITGN to provide impetus to the cause of research and education in Fire Safety Engineering in India. Such contributions from Industry help advance public safety for society.”