KTH researchers sign MoU on Arsenic mitigation centre in West Bengal

On 30 December 2014, the Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian state government of West Bengal, that also involves two other partners, namely the prestigeous Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, and the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). The MoU covers technical support in setting up an International Centre for Water Quality Research at Joka in the south-western fringes of Kolkata. It also involves also collaborative research for implementation of sustainable arsenic mitigation methods in the affected localities of Bengal. The Centre will be funded by the Indian Central government and be complete by 2016.
The driving force behind the initiative on the Swedish side is Professor Prosun Bhattacharya, coordinator of the KTH-International Groundwater Arsenic Research Group, strongly involved in research on how to tackle the problem with Arsenic in groundwater all over the world.  More information about the KTH International Groundwater Arsenic Research Group and about the Division of Land and Water Resources Engineering, KTH .
The signing of the MoU came as a follow up of a visit by an Indian delegation to Stockholm in August 2014. The delegation was led by Mr. Subrata Mukherjee, Minister in Charge for the Department of Panchayat and Rural Development and Public Health Engineering, Government of West Bengal.  More information about this visit .