Class X student of HE School in Dhanbad Robin Chandra (15), son of a newspaper hawker, wants to become a scientist. And, on Thursday, he got aware of several scientific innovations and research work, which he wanted to know about since long.

Thanks to a Public Outreach Programme organised at Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR) on its Barwa Road campus, which gave over 500 students like Robin of various government and private schools a chance to know about some pioneering inventions of eminent scientists that contributed to the socio-economic development of the nation.

State food and civil supplies minister Saryu Roy, who graced the programme as the chief guest, pitched for promoting science among students. "Scientific inventions should be aimed at benefiting the common masses," he added.

The objective of the programme was to make the students aware about the contributions of CIMFR in the field of scientific and technological inventions.

Robin, who idolises Charles Darwin, learned about a new facility developed by the CIMFR that makes domestic coal out of raw coal.

For Class IX student Rohit Das (14) of HE School, it was a similar experience of enlightenment. "I came to know about various ongoing research work such as the new technology that converts coal to liquid," said Das, son of a vegetable vendor, who aspires to become an engineer.

Amogh Singh, a Class X student of De Nobili School-CMRI, learned a new cost-effective technology of converting mine pit water to drinking water. "I also got to know that CIMFR has developed a vehicle that collects coal dust from mines and then transform them into coal briquettes," he added.

Among those present on the occasion included Dhanbad mayor Chandrashekhar Agarwal, MLA Raj Sinha, Jharia MLA Sanjeev Singh, VBU vice chancellor Gurdeep Singh and CIMFR director Pradeep Kumar Singh.