Maitri (research station)
Maitri also known as Friendship Research Centre, is India's second permanent research station in Antarctica as part of the Indian Antarctic Programme. The name was suggested by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Work on the station was first started by the Indian Expedition which arrived the end of December 1984, with a team led by Dr. B. B. Bhattacharya. Squadron Leader D. P. Joshi, the surgeon of the team, was the first camp commander of the tentage at camp Maitri. The first huts were started by the IV Antarctica Expedition and completed in 1989, shortly before the first station, Dakshin Gangotri, was buried in ice and abandoned in 1990–91. Maitri is situated in the rocky mountainous region called Schirmacher Oasis. It is only 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away from the Russian Novolazarevskaya Station.
An aerial view of the Indian Station Maitri, Antarctica on 2 February 2005
Maitri under construction with lake Indira Priyadarshini in background (1988)
An aerial view of the Indian Station Maitri, Antarctica on 2 February 2005
Indian Antarctic Programme
The Indian Antarctic Programme is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional programme under the control of the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. It was initiated in 1981 with the first Indian expedition to Antarctica. The programme gained global acceptance with India's signing of the Antarctic Treaty and subsequent construction of the Dakshin Gangotri Antarctic research base in 1983, superseded by the Maitri base from 1989. The newest base commissioned in 2012 is Bharati, constructed out of 134 shipping containers. Under the programme, atmospheric, biological, earth, chemical, and medical sciences are studied by India, which has carried out 40 scientific expeditions to the Antarctic.
An aerial view of the Indian Station Maitri on 25 February 2005
Mohammed Ghous uzzaman, a member of 7th Indian Antarctic Expedition Team at library, Dakshin Gangotri. (26 January 1988)
Mohammed Ghous uzzaman (Left) and M.Vyghreswara Rao (Right), members of 7th Indian Antarctic Expedition Team at Dakshin Gangotri, Antarctica. (26 January 1988)
Col. Jatinder Kumar Bajaj, a member of one of the Indian expeditions to Antarctica, standing at the South Pole (17 January 1989)