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Deliberations of National Conference on ‘Environmental Pollution, Disaster Management and Mitigation’
15-16 September 2006
Dnyanopasak Shikshan Mandal’s College of Arts, Commerce and Science
Parbhani, Maharashtra

While speaking on the Disaster and disaster management we remember the devastating earthquakes that affected Killari-Latur on 30th September 1993 and Gujarat State at Bhuj on 26th January 2001, the super cyclone that hit Orissa coast in October 1999, the tsunami earthquake that hit the East coast of India on 26th December 2004 and recent floods of 2005 and 2006 in India. These events opened eyes for preparation of the Disaster Management programme in India.

Keeping in view the enormity of the above mentioned problems and with a view to highlight their impact and to seek possible solutions the much-awaited National Conference on ‘Environmental Pollution, Disaster Management and Mitigation’ (EPDMM 2006) was organized at Dnyanopasak Shikshan Mandal’s College of Arts, Commerce and Science in Parbhani, Maharashtra from 15th to 16th September 2006.

The conference provided a vibrant forum for serious discussions and deliberations on the burning problem of environmental pollution, disaster management and mitigation. The other important environmental issues that were deliberated upon during the Conference included Environmental impact assessment studies, Environmental health hazards and diseases of new millennium, Disaster management and mitigation and Application of Remote Sensing and GIS for disaster management and environmental studies.

The entire global community has a vested interest in supporting and sustaining any move for the protection of environment, disaster management and mitigation. Taking cognizance of this, several National Scientific and Government Organizations supported and co-sponsored EPDMM 2006.

The deliberations during the Conference revolved around the following themes:

  • Urban development and their environmental problems and solutions
  • Environmental education and awareness
  • Environmental health hazards and diseases of new millennium
  • Environmental communication and role of mass media
  • Environment, computers and information technology
  • Social, economic and legal aspects of environment
  • Politics of environmental issues and Environmental ethics
  • NGO’s for environment concern as role model
  • Afforestation, deforestation, bio-diversity and environment
  • Waste disposal and environment
  • Environmental impact assessment studies
  • Disaster management and mitigation
  • Natural and man-made Hazards
  • Application of Remote Sensing and GIS for disaster management and environmental studies
  • Modeling of natural hazards.
The Conference was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Dr. Anil Mohekar, the Regional Officer, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Aurangabad on 15th September 2006 at the Auditorium of College of Arts, Commerce and Science.

Over 300 guests including delegates from various parts of the country and distinguished citizens of Parbhani attended the colourful inaugural function. The Chief Guest, Dr. Anil Mohekar, lighted the traditional lamp to kick start the function. Honorable President of the function Adv. Ganeshraoji Dudhgaonkar, the President of Dnyanopasak Shikshan Mandal, Parbhani (Maharashtra) welcomed the guests.

Dr. Prakash L. More, the Chief Organiser and Principal of Dnyanopasak Shikshan Mandal’s College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Parbhani explained the genesis of the conference and Dr. Shaikh Md. Babar, the Convener of the conference proposed the vote of thanks.

Dr. Baban Ingole, Sr. Scientist and Dy. Director, National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, Dr. Kodarkar, Secretary, Indian Association of Aquatic Biologists, Vivek Wardhani College, Hyderabad, Prof. S.R. Dave, Head, Dept. of Microbiology, Gujrat University, Ahemadabad and Dr. M. K. Ghose, Centre of Mining Environment, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, who were the guests of honour also addressed the gathering and lauded the objectives of the conference.

Dr. Anil Mohekar in his inaugural address expressed his deep concern about the problem of environmental pollution, which was adversely affecting the global environment. He emphasized on the preparation of action plan to mitigate the environmental health hazards. Adv. Ganeshraoji Dudhgaonkar in his presidential address stressed on “besides the implementation of disaster management and mitigation programme, I feel that it must be included in the curriculum of secondary and higher secondary school level education. It is essential that every citizen of India must know something about the disaster and disaster management so as to minimize casualties during disaster and quick management of natural hazard. Disaster education plays a significant role in disaster reduction”.

The glittering inaugural function was followed by absorbing Scientific Programme that commenced at the main Auditorium in the college Campus in the morning of 15th September and continued till 16th September 2006 evening.

Over 225 delegates, representing colleges, Universities and R&D organizations, from India, attended the Conference. The scientific programme was divided into three Keynote addresses and four technical sessions each of which was largely attended and lively.

Keynote Addresses

  1. Prof. D.B. Yedekar :
    Prof. D.B. Yedekar Vice-Chancellor, Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded delivered the first keynote address. He reminded the Killari earthquake of September 30th 1993, Gujrat Disaster of 2001 and Maharashtra flood of 2005 and 2006 and the steps taken by the government to stabilize the situations. He pointed out; it is essential to know where we are wrong? Whether we have planned for rehabilitation measures? And he added we must have a future plan in concern with the disaster. He was speaking on ‘Disaster Management, why bother?’ He with the data and illustrations pointed out the disaster due to man made causes like diseases-epidemics, accidents, murders, riots, terrorism, etc. are more dominant as compared to natural disasters.


  2. Dr. Baban Ingole:
    Dr. Baban Ingole, Senior Scientist, National Institute of Oceanography Goa in his keynote address emphasized on the creation of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system is vital to conform socio-economic development projects to environmental safety and thereby ensure sustainable economic development. In view of the fact that development is an ever-growing process, its impact on the environment is also ever increasing, leading to rapid deterioration in environmental conditions. As such Environmental Assessment provides a rational approach to sustainable development. While explaining the ‘monitoring of the environment’ Dr. Ingole with the example of Chilka Lake in Orissa coast pointed out that, it is an essential to prepare module of environmental conservation, as it directly records the impact of the environmental disturbance on the biota. He further added that, the regular monitoring in space and time or season, generates comparable set of data for seasonal and /or annual cycle and a comparison between the baselines and succeeding set of data, enables to identify and to delineate the qualitative and quantitative changes in biota on seasonal and inter-annual decadal scale.


  3. Dr. Mohan S. Kodarkar :
    Dr. Mohan S. Kodarkar, Secretary, IAAB in his keynote address talked on “Environmental consideration and ecological consequences in relation to the inter-linking of rivers in India”. According to him the Inter Basin Transfers will be a tool for socio economic development and poverty alleviation programs:

    • Inter basin transfers will bring large additional area under irrigation and generate power
    • The power generated will give rise to many agro based industries in rural area and creating huge employment opportunity
    • Besides the economic benefits to the country as a whole, the impact of inter¬ basin transfers on the socio economic development and poverty alleviation in rural area would be tremendous
    He further added following are the issues that need to be sorted out before inter-linking is taken up:

    1. Agreement between states and countries as water is a state and inter-national subject.
    2. Inter-state issues can be sorted out by enacting legislation under entry 56 of Union list in National interest.
    3. Prohibitive cost :
      Peninsular component : Rs. 1,10,000 crore
      Himalayan component : Rs. 2,20,000 crores
      Total : Rs. 3,30,000 crores.

    From environmental and Ecological point of view Dr. Kodarkar raised following Issues:

    • Finance and duration of project: Cost over-run and inordinate delay leads to half hearted implementation of a project and in long terms its financial returns are seldom realized.
    • Ecological consequences are not given serious consideration in engineering solutions of water related issues. For example many proposed links run through protected, forest and tribal belts and will involve massive displacement and rehabilitation. The issue is very sensitive and going by past records of social conflicts, solutions appear to be very difficult.
    • Rehabilitation of displaced population is big question; record of Govt. is very poor.
    • In some cases of inter-linking lifting of water needs electricity, which is seldom available in the country.
    • Inter-State and Inter-National agreements are very difficult to negotiate and still difficult to implement.
    • During lean periods most of the rivers carry waste from cities on the bank and transfer of northern pollution to south is very real possibility.
    • One of the major lessons learnt on account of irrigation driven green revolution is salinization of soils and decline of productivity in long term. It is scientifically established fact that excessive irrigation leads to salinization of soil, water logging and loss of production over a period of time and inter-linking of rivers will have massive problem of salinization leading to vast tracts of non-productive poor soils and consequent loss of food security.
    • In global debate over small versus large dams it is very clearly pointed out that local priorities need to be given top emphasis before embarking on any solutions. In this context small-scale irrigation is advocated. It is argued that decentralized, community based small-scale management is effective over finance intensive massive planning of water resource development. The alternatives like local resource management involving stake holders, stabilization of local water cycles, rainwater harvesting are proposed as an effective answer for massive projects like interlinking of rivers advocated by technocrats. In the opinion of writer truth lies somewhere in between.
Technical Sessions Highlights
The technical sessions were held in the main Auditorium of the college. The technical sessions included the plenary and special lectures followed by paper presentations of delegates. Some of the highlights of the various technical sessions are mentioned as under:

Technical Session I : Environmental Impact Assessment
Session I on “Environmental Impact Assessment” was chaired by Dr. Baban Ingole and Co-chairman was Dr. M.S. Kodarkar. The lead lecture was delivered by Dr. R.D. Kaplay from School of Earth Sciences, Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded on “Behaviour of Groundwater pollution at Tuppa, Nanded, Maharashtra – A Case Study”.

In his case study Dr. Kaplay found that the industries in the Tuppa area were disposing off the effluent, mostly untreated, either on the surface through local nala (stream) or through injection well. As more and more people started complaining about the deteriorating quality of dug well water, industries then started disposing the effluent through injection well. In the process deeper bore wells were more contaminated than the shallow dug wells. However, the recent trend is drastically changing towards decreasing the lateral extent of pollution. Analysis of mineral species also shows the trend in tune with the decrease in the level of pollution. This could be attributed to the proper use of effluent treatment plants.

Prof. B.N. Pande from Department of Environmental Science, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad delivered the second special lecture in this session on ‘Aeroallergens and Human Health’. While explaining allergies he said today more than 20% of total Indian population suffers from allergic disorders such as allergic rhinitis, bronchial asthma, atopic dermatitis etc. Although fungi are ubiquitous in nature and are present in both outdoor and indoor environments, but greater attention is currently paid to indoor fungi as children and adults, both spend most of their time indoors. In the presentation he also throw light on fungal biodiversity, its impact on human health to cause various types of allergic disorders. The sources of fungal spores in the outdoor air are mostly vegetation, cereal crops, garbage storage etc. and in the indoor environment are mattresses, humidifiers, damp walls, carpets, dustbins, indoor plants, decaying vegetation and organic wastes that provide conducive environment for fungal growth. He further added that in Indian environment, both outdoor and indoor, a rich aerial fungal diversity is reported.

The most predominant types in outdoor air are Cladosprium,Curvularia, Rhizopus, Penicillium nigricans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Alternaria, Helminthosporium, Smut spores etc. However, in India and also in different parts of world there is an urgent need to organize all the information available in the form of seasonal calendars and all allergic fungal types enlisted and made readily available for the use of common man and allergologists as a diagnostic tool.

In her presentation Miss. Mousumi Chatterjee a research scholar from Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, discussed ‘the Distribution of heavy metals in Sediment cores in Sunderban mangrove wetland, Northeast part of Bay of Bengal’. Khadke, V.V. from Dept. of Geography, Shri Madhavrao Patil Mahavidyalaya, Murum, Osmanabad District (M.S.) presented a paper on ‘An evaluation of various Physico-Chemical parameters in Surface water in the Jakekur Dam, Omerga’. Mrs. Joshi R.K. from P.G. Department of Microbiology, Dnyanopasak College, Parbhani (M.S.) highlighted ‘Groundwater Pollution Due to Waste Disposal in Parbhani City, Maharashtra’ with reference to the bacteriological contamination of the dug well and bore well water due sewage and waste disposal in the water bodies, open wells and natural streams in Parbhani City.

Technical Session – II: Environmental Protection
Dr. M.S. Kodarkar chaired the Session II on “Environmental Protection” and Co-Chairman was Dr. R.D. Kaplay. Prof S.R. Dave, Head, Department of Microbiology, Gujrat University, Ahemadabad delivered the lead lecture on “Environmental Protection by Microbial Metal Remediation”. He mentioned that metals are toxic and non-biodegradable pollutants released into the environment through effluents from agriculture waste, mining, metal processing industries, pharmaceutical industries as well as domestic and natural activities. Metallic pollutants tend to persist indefinitely and eventually get accumulated in the ecosystem. Metals especially arsenic, copper, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel, selenium and silver etc. possess a risk to living systems. He highlighted that the conventional processes applied to remediation of metallic pollutants are often restricted due to technical and economical constraints. Particularly when the metal contamination is at very low concentration the conventional methods become inefficient. According to him in this situation application of bioremediation techniques are technology of choice for environmental protection and clean up. Metal bioremediation is mainly divided in two groups namely removal of metals from solid waste by bioextraction where as from liquid waste by biosorption or biotransformation. Biosorption of metals is often comparable commercially with ion exchange, more over it is selective in some cases and it is useful for the waste containing alkaline earth metals. The process of sorption mainly comprises of adsorption, absorption, precipitation, accumulation, complexation, entrapment etc. He further added that the application of both live and dead microorganisms for removal and recovery of arsenic, copper cadmium mercury, nickel, chromium, silver etc. from aqueous as well as solid waste can be best studied in the laboratory. To conclude Dr. Dave pointed out that ‘the metal bioremediation technology can be effectively used for the environmental clean up of metallic pollutants, which provides sustainable healthy environment’.

Besides the lead lecture, there were presentations by Miss. Archana A. Kulkarni a research scholar from Department of Microbiology, Rajarshi Shahu Mahavidyalaya Latur on ‘Screening of bacteria for decolorization of offset printing waste’. In her presentation she highlighted microbial treatment of offset printing industry waste of Latur city. The waste was characterized by presence of phenols, cadmium, high C.O.D., low DO and acidic pH etc. out of fifty-six isolates, five isolates showed considerable decolorization ability. The isolate KPPI2&DPPI3 exhibited good decolorization activity and best decolorization was observed with the consortium of DPPI3& EPPI3 isolates. Dr. V.B. Sakhare from Post Graduate and Research Department of Zoology, Yogeshwari Mahavidyalaya, Ambajogai (Maharashtra) talked on ‘Ecology and Fisheries of Manjara Reservoir, Maharashtra’ and pointed out the growth of fisheries in different environmental situation of the Manjara reservoir.

The technical session II was followed in the evening of 15-09-2006 by the cultural programme presented by the students of cultural programme department of the college. In this cultural programme folk songs and folk dances were presented. It was followed by the grand dinner sponsored by Dnyanopasak Shikshan Mnadal’s Employees Credit Co-operative Society.

Technical Session – III : Disaster Management and Mitigation
This technical session on the day second (16-09-2006) in the morning (at 10.00 am) on “Disaster Management and Mitigation” was chaired by Dr. P.S. Kulkarni, Head, Department of Geology, Maulana Azad College, Aurangabad (Maharashtra). Mrinal K. Ghose from Centre of mining Environment, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad delivered the lead lecture on “Natural disasters in India: Mitigation and management”. During his lecture he emphasized on the natural hazards is not unusual phenomenon and India is among the most disaster prone areas in the world. His lecture highlighted the need to take action for the disaster reduction, mitigation, preparedness and prevention and it focuses on the policies and programmes being adopted in India in this regard. He analysed the hazard vulnerability in respect of earthquakes, tsunami, landslides and floods and discussed the usefulness of the Vulnerability Atlas, developed by different organizations in India, for formulating proactive policies to face the threat due natural hazards.

In this session out of interest, being Environment technologist (M. Sc. Tech from IIT Mumbai) and regularly handling the disastrous situations Mr. Sanjay Latkar, Superintendent of Police Parbhani, despite his busy schedule attended the conference for more than two hours.

Dr. D.M. Maurya from Department of Geology, M.S. University, Baroda (Vadodara) presented the second special lecture on ‘Recent studies on Neotectonics of Kachchh with reference to earthquakes’. He in his purely technical presentation pointed out that ‘Neotectonic studies are of prime importance in seismically active regions. These studies involve recognition and mapping of active faults and delineating tectonic activity along them in the recent past. Understanding the nature of active faults and sequence of neotectonic events are the prerequisites for seismic risk assessment and mitigation. The seismically active Kachchh palaeo-rift graben, located at the western continental margin of India reveals a long term tectonic history dating back to the Mesozoic.’ Dr. Maurya presented the data on detailed geomorphic and stratigraphic studies on Quaternary sediments occurring along these faults supplemented with state-of-art geophysical studies using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) are essential to precisely locate these faults, determine their nature in the shallow subsurface for evaluating contemporary stress environment and reconstruct the chronology of neotectonic events. He further added that the interpretation of GPR data reveals that the Katrol Hill Fault is a south dipping high angle reverse fault, which becomes vertical at depth indicating neotectonic reactivation of the fault under a compressive stress regime. During this he also highlighted the causes and effects of Bhuj Earthquake of 2001.

During this session delegates also presented their papers. Dr. P.T. Sawant from Walchand College, Solapur (Maharashtra) made presentation on ‘Influence of Lineaments on Landslide prone area around Mahad, Raigad district, Maharashtra’. He highlighted how the weak zones in the form of lineaments are prone to land sliding hazards during the heavy rainfall in 2005 and 2006 in the area around Mahad. Mr. Vaishakh P. Palsodkar from Department of Geology, Maulana Azad College, Aurangabad (M.S.) spoke about ‘Mitigation of Evaporation Loss from Poorly Permeable Percolation Tanks through Artificial Recharge in Deccan Basaltic Terrain’. Dr. A.V. Tejankar Head, Department of Geology, Deogiri College, Aurangabad (M.S.) highlighted ‘the Impact of geohydrology in the conservation of groundwater reserves in part of Sindkhed Raja tehsil of Buldhana District (Maharashtra)’. Dr. Shirke A.J. from Dept. of Civil Engineering, P.D.V.V.P. College of Engineering, Ahemadnagar presented ‘A case study of Disaster Mitigation and Flood Control’.

Technical Session – IV: Applications of Remote Sensing and I.T. for Disaster Management and Environmental Pollution
Dr. M.K. Ghose chaired the Session IV ‘Applications of Remote Sensing and I.T. for Disaster Management and Environmental Pollution’ and Dr. D.M. Maurya was the co-chairman. Dr. Baban Ingole, Senior Scientist, National Institute of Oceanography Goa delivered the lead lecture on “A journey to the heart of tsunami”. Dr. Ingole with his vast experience on the journey at rift of tsunami earthquake source area near Sumatra Island through Andaman and Nicobar Island and taking the help of Remote Sensing Satellite Imageries highlighted the deep-sea ecosystem and behavioral changes on the marine organisms during tsunami.

Mr. Loveson Immanuel a research scholar from Centre for GeoTechnology, School of Technology, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu) in a special lecture presented ‘the Application of Remote sensing and GIS in disaster management and mitigation’. He pointed out that the analysis of hazard is a complex task, as many factors can play important role in the occurrence of the disastrous event. Therefore, analysis requires a large number of input parameters, and techniques of analysis may be very costly and time consuming. He further added that space technology has made significant contribution in all the three phases, i.e. preparedness, prevention and relief of disaster management. With a constellation of both INSAT and IRS series of satellites, India has developed an operational mechanism for disaster warning especially cyclone and drought, and their monitoring and mitigation. However, prediction of certain events likes earthquake, volcanic eruption and flood is still at experimental level. Developments in space-based earth observation and weather watch capabilities in future may help refining existing models/approaches for prediction of such events and their management.

Besides these two special lectures there were papers presented by some delegates. Dr. S.S. Pangave from Dept. of Botany Mahatma Basweshwar College Latur (M.S.) talked on ‘the Environment in 21st Century: Hazards and Measures’. J. Loveson Immanuel presented a paper of his co-author M. Rajamanickam from Centre For Geo-Technology, School of Technology, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli on ‘Tsunami Hazard Assessment Using GIS Techniques: A Case Study Between Colachel And Arockiapuram Coast, Tamil Nadu, India’. He pointed out that the application of the “tsunami risk management pilot study of Papadopoulos” shows clearly that the vulnerability of buildings to tsunami flooding is not uniform within the inundation zone. In addition GIS Analysis of the spatial distribution of vulnerability labels of building damage, human death and economic loss enables local authorities and emergency planners to focus their limited resources in the most effective way.

This session is followed by the lunch break, which is then followed by Panel discussion session.

Panel Discussion “Environmental Awareness and preparedness for Natural Disasters: An Indian perspective”.
Chairman – Dr. Baban Ingole
Co-Chairman – Dr. M.S. Kodarkar
Members –
  1. Prof S.R. Dave
  2. Dr. M.K. Ghose
  3. Dr. P.S. Kulkarni
  4. Dr. D.M. Maurya

Issues Raised:

  • Environmental Impact Assessment
  • Pollution Hazards
  • Natural Hazards
  • Preparedness for Natural Disasters
Discussion and Recommendations:
After the discussion the following recommendations were formulated at the final plenary discussion session on “Environmental Awareness and preparedness for Natural Disasters: An Indian perspective”.

  • Environmental Monitoring and Assessment should emphasize technical developments and the data arising from environmental monitoring and assessment must be judiciously utilized for resource management in consciousness with environment.
  • The use of scientific principles in the design of monitoring systems at the local, regional and global scales, and the use of monitoring data in assessing the consequences of natural resource management actions and pollution risks to man and the environment.
  • Restoration of affected population and environmental impact assessment.
  • Apply preventive, precautionary and anticipatory approaches so as to avoid degradation of the marine environment, as well as to reduce the risk of long-term or irreversible adverse effects upon it.
  • Awareness programmes must be launched in order to improve the living standards of coastal populations, particularly in developing countries like India, so as to contribute to reducing the degradation of the coastal and marine environment.
  • Promoting primary treatment of municipal sewage discharged to rivers, estuaries and the sea, or other solutions appropriate to specific sites.
  • Establishing or improving, as necessary, regulatory and monitoring programmes to control effluent discharges and emissions, including the development and application of control and recycling technologies.
  • Develop a strong mechanism to promote environmental education among young people (e.g. school) and environmental literacy among the public, particularly in the user sector, through outreach. That can be achieved by initiating local science fairs for young people (e.g. school children), increasing the support and opportunity for graduate and post graduate students to highlight their research work, organizing regional workshops focusing on specific environmental issues and collaborating with the media sector to attract attention of the public and the policy makers.
  • Develop and evaluate the comparative success of various cost-effective pollution mitigation strategies appropriately suited for acceptance by the local community. Examples include bio-remediation of salinity (responsible for major crop losses in semi-arid and irrigated agriculture) and phyto-remediation of soils and surface waters contaminated by industrial waste (responsible for the transport of toxic chemicals in the food chain).
  • Need to identify disasters at various levels.
  • Policymaking and implementations must be positive.
  • Disaster Management must be an extension of Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.
  • Risk assessment should be done before planning any industry.
  • Web enabled GIS database platform should be developed to help disaster management experts.
  • Storm surge, the most killing aspects of the cyclone and the tsunamis are the prominent features of the coastal regions, so proper precaution should be taken for Industrial Installations in these areas.
  • Disaster Management must be included in the curriculum.
  • Animals do posses a sense of behaviour in pre-sensing a natural disaster- more studies needed.
  • Within the human tribal people (Andamanis) are more sensitive and responsive in predicting the tsunamis/disasters – learn it.
  • Less sensitive animals may mislead the predictions so we should be cautious in predicting the disasters.
  • Tolerance limit of disaster predicting indicators must be devised.
  • Need to identify vulnerable areas with reference to natural hazards such as earthquakes, cyclones, floods, etc., having a potential of damaging housing stock and related infrastructure.
  • Also recognizes the importance of integrating a gender perspective as well as of engaging women in the design and implementation of all phases of disaster management, particularly in the disaster reduction stage.
  • The importance of public awareness programme of the potential hazard and forecasting by satellite and remote sensing, computerized systems of vulnerability and risk assessment and other technologies for warning and monitoring should be given on priority basis.
  • Finally it is decided that the emphasis should be on invited state-of-the-art reviews by recognized experts, focusing on specific themes, with in-depth discussions, followed by opportunities for young scientists to showcase their research. The overall proceedings of the conference should be used as another mechanism to promote awareness among the public and the policy makers.
Valedictory:
A valedictory function was organized after the scientific sessions and panel discussion session on the afternoon of 16th September 2006 wherein Dr. Shaikh Md. Babar (Convener), Dr. Baban Ingole and Dr. M.S. Kodarkar expressed their views about the outcome of the conference. Some of the distinguished delegates also expressed their appreciation and thanks to the organizers of the Conference. Honorable Manohar Bhagat, the District Collector of Parbhani, who was the chief guest, highlighted the role of administration in handling the natural and man made disasters. Dr. P.L. More, Chief Organiser of the conference and principal of the college in his valedictory address congratulated the organising committee for the success of the conference. Dr. Prashant Wakte Head Microbiology Department of Host College presented the vote of thanks. The conference ended with the National Anthem.