New Delhi: The project designed by students of Manavabharati India International school won top honors in the 2008-09 Future Cities India 2020 competition. This year's challenge centered on Indian Railway's plans to refurbish the country's aging and broken railway stations into world-class facilities. Student teams submitted conceptual designs for the rehabilitation of the New Delhi Railway station, the first of 22 stations on the redevelopment schedule.
Jointly organized by the Ministry of Science & Technology and Bentley Systems, the Future Cities India 2020 competition is a partnership among government, universities, and the business community. Launched in 2006, it encourages students to use their design skills, along with Bentley's software, to help prepare India's cities for the year 2020.
Shri. Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Science & Technology & Earth Sciences, in his congratulatory message to the participants said that the team members have shown extreme foresight in their design and have proven that they fully understand the pressing need for more sustainable, high performance infrastructure to improve the lives of our citizens. He said by exposing young minds to engineering and design, we are grooming the next generation of infrastructure professionals, and giving them an opportunity to contribute to society now.
The winners were awarded scholarships and trophies, and the teachers and technical professionals who served as counselors and mentors also received awards and recognition. Shri. S K Vij, Member (Engineering), Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, gave away the awards. Members of the winning team included Harkeerat Singh, Sambit Ghosh, Ujjwal Gupta and Shwetank Chaudhry. Second place honors went to Amity International, Gurgaon.
The Future Cities India 2020 competition consisted of 15 student teams representing 14 high schools. Teachers and industry mentors guided each team in designing a plan to rehabilitate the New Delhi Railway station. Using Bentley software, students designed a world-class railway station to accommodate the country's growing number of commuters, while keeping in mind the concerns of the surrounding infrastructure and all environmental sustainability issues. A distinguished panel of experts from India's infrastructure community judged the project presentations based on three requirements: using the existing land and infrastructure to best advantage, accommodating internal access zones, with separate parking zones at Paharganj and Ajmeri Gate terminals, and using environmentally responsible materials.
The Ministry of Science & Technology opened the 2008-2009 Future Cities India 2020 design competition to all 11th standard school students from Delhi and the National Capital Region, NCR. Bentley, through its BE Careers Network program, provided software products and solutions to the students and trained them, with the assistance of the industry mentors, in their use.