Ahmedabad: A 26-year-old graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIGn) is helping Ahmedabad Metro Rail project with underground infrastructure mapping through her expertise that does not damage pre-existing structures. Silky Agrawal who studied MTech in Civil Engineering from IITGn graduated in 2015 and launched her start-up GeoCarte Radar Technology Private Limited and incubated at IITGn.
GeoCarte is a consulting organisation that provides non-destructive geophysical exploration with the objective of providing the innovative approach for subsurface investigation using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). GPR is one of the best modern tools capable of imaging subsurface invasively.
Since 2015, Silky has worked on number of prestigious projects using IITGn’s network that includes working for Shree Somnath Trust, railway station in Gandhinagar and CST in Mumbai along with Ahmedabad Metro Rail project.
Speaking about her work, she said, “We specialise in mapping manholes beneath the surface, locate excavation for archaeological sites, leak detection in underground pipelines and understand the drainage system of a city.”
Silky added, “Ahmedabad is a Smart City now. It is undergoing massive development. It is extremely essential to prevent underground infrastructure and the pre-existing structures.”
Talking about the work, she said, “We map the underground surface by not digging. We have completed first part for metro here and soon will be working on Pune metro.”
She worked for proposed Shahpur metro station and located additional unknown utilities like sewage lines, electrical cables, underground storage tanks, and detected manholes.”
Speaking about challenges, she said, “The most challenging issue on my entrepreneurial journey has been late night working on the site. It often gets difficult for girls to be on the site.”
