Engineers, researchers, industry and government to deliberate on safer, greener and smarter roads

Hyderabad: Nov 15: The 85th annual session of Indian Roads Congress being hosted by the Roads and Buildings department, Government of Telangana, at Hyderabad from 19th to 21st November 2026. The Technical Sessions are the core of the Annual Session. They bring students, academicians, scientists, field engineers, contractors, consultants, equipment and material manufacturers, and national and international experts onto one platform to share knowledge on the planning, design, construction and maintenance of roads and bridges.

According to The Hon’ble Minister for Roads and Buildings, Government of Telangana, Sri Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, “It is a matter of pride for Telangana to host the 85th Annual Session of Indian Roads Congress. The standards framed by the IRC guide every road and bridge built in this country, and the Technical Sessions are where those standards are tested against field experience and new research. Our aim is to make Telangana a benchmark in modern road construction and road safety, and these deliberations will help our engineers adopt the best practices available in the country and abroad.”

He Further added, “The subjects chosen for the sessions, including climate resilience, decarbonization of road transport, artificial intelligence, tunnels and safe pedestrian infrastructure reflect the needs of the coming decades. The session by the officers of the Roads and Buildings Department will present the works taken up by the State Government to delegates from across the country.”

The 85th Annual Session of Indian Roads Congress will host more than 3,000 delegates from India and abroad, including Ministers and Secretaries of Public Works and Roads and Buildings Departments of various States, Engineers-in-Chief, Chief Engineers, scientists, academicians, students and industry representatives. A Technical Exhibition of about 400 stalls displaying the latest materials, machinery, equipment and software in the road sector will open on the evening of 18th November.

The Inaugural Function will be held on 19th November from 10.00 AM in the Kakatiya Hall. The Hon’ble Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Sri Nitin Gadkari, and the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Telangana, Sri A. Revanth Reddy, are expected to grace the occasion. Meetings of the IRC Council, the Highway Research Board and the 85th Business Meeting will also be held during the Session.

The nineteen Technical Sessions will be conducted over three days in two halls named after the eminent engineers Mir Ali Nawaz Jung Bahadur and Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya with most sessions running in parallel.

The programme is tentative and is as follows:

Thursday, 19th November (Sessions 1 to 5): The sessions begin at 2.00 PM after the Inaugural Function. Separate sessions are devoted to students and research scholars of IITs, NITs and engineering colleges to academicians, to scientists and officers of research and development organisations and to contractors, consultants and non-governmental organisations. The day closes with presentations by manufacturers of equipment, machinery, materials and software.

Friday, 20th November (Sessions 6 to 12): The day opens with presentations of papers published in the IRC Journal. These are followed by presentations by international organisations and multilateral agencies and a session on sustainable infrastructure, digital technologies, climate resilience, multimodal transportation, electric mobility, artificial intelligence and innovations in highway engineering. The afternoon covers road tunnels and underground structures in highways and presentations by officers and engineers. The day concludes with a talk by a national or international expert on “Decarbonising the Road Transport Sector: Strategies for Reducing Carbon Emissions”.

Saturday, 21st November (Sessions 13 to 19): The morning has a presentation on road research work done in India and a session in which officers of the Roads and Buildings Department, Government of Telangana will present the State’s works. Further sessions cover papers on pavements published in the IRC Journal and presentations by officers of State Government departments, local bodies and public sector undertakings, and of Central Government organisations including MoRTH, NHAI, BRO, CPWD, NHIDCL and NRIDA. A panel discussion will be held on “Right to Walk: Creating Safe, Inclusive and Sustainable Pedestrian Infrastructure”.

The Hon’ble Minister called upon engineers of the State, faculty and students of engineering colleges, contractors and consultants to take part in the Technical Sessions and the Technical Exhibition in large numbers and to make use of the opportunity. He directed the officers concerned to ensure that all arrangements for the delegates are made without any lapse, in keeping with the hospitality for which Telangana is known.