Driving in the hills to become safer: MESPL develops unique alert device that helps prevent rockfall accidents

We are looking forward to using this device in the Himalayan and other mountainous terrains where such mishaps occur very often.

A large portion of India consists of mountains and hilly regions and remains vulnerable to natural calamities like landslides, debris fall and other rock fall events which threaten human lives, strategic infrastructure like roads, bridges among others. In a crucial development towards preventing such accidents in advance Maccaferri Environmental Solutions has launched an innovative alert device called ‘Hellomac’ in India. The device which has been designed to provide rockfall protection is capable of providing real time updates not only at the time of rockfall events but also provides constant information about the status of rockfall protection, the company has claimed.

Himalayan states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are considered some of the most geologically active regions and unstable mountains in the world with incidents like earthquakes, landslides, rock fall and debris fall being constant part of the lives of people of these regions. It is in such regions that devices like Hellomac could come to use in preventing untoward incidents. The Hellomac device could also come to the rescue of regions which remain poorly connected due to their extremely tough terrain and topography as the device runs with the help of satellites and is not dependent on the connectivity profile of the region. Maccaferri Environmental Solutions has also claimed that the device is capable of working efficiently in extreme cold and extreme hot regions ranging from -40 degree celsius to +60 degree celsius.

Abhishek Pathak, Head of Sales & Business Development for India & Nepal, at Maccaferri said, “Rockfall is one of the inherent hazards for mountains and it is important to develop products and solutions that can mitigate these issues. ‘HELLOMAC’ helps in giving timely alerts on such rockfall occurrences. We are looking forward to using this device in the Himalayan and other mountainous terrains where such mishaps occur very often. This advanced device is one of the most reliable and accurate products.”

The device which has been tested at Italy’s Politecnico di Milano university is designed to send the rockfall protection status on a mobile app, email or sms. The company further said that once installed the device needs minimal maintenance and can work efficiently for years. Mr. Vikramjiet Roy who is the Managing Director of MESPL in India said that the company has excelled its performance in India in the last 2 decades and offering better tech solutions in accordance with India’s topographic features.