-Prof. Basab Chaudhuri, Principal, Heritage Institute of Technology

Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata has announced that its student group, Team Waterloo, has been named national winner at the Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2025 for the NCIIPC India (a unit of NTRO) problem statement SIH25232 in the software category. The team received the award on stage from AICTE Chairman Prof. T.G. Sitharam during the national ceremony.

The students built an illegal mining detection and analysis platform incorporating SAR-based deep-learning detection, DEM-supported volumetric analysis, automated assessment workflows, 2D/3D geospatial visualisation, and an offline-ready analytical environment. During the finale, NTRO officials instructed all teams to switch from multispectral to SAR-only data, following which the Heritage team re-engineered its system overnight, including retraining models, reconstructing backend pipelines, and developing an updated 3D interface using CesiumJS and Three.js.

The solution was noted for technical accuracy and operational relevance. Selected from 72,165 ideas and 1,360 national finalists, the achievement places the institute among the leading performers in SIH 2025.

Team Waterloo comprises Ankit Kumar, Soumyadipta Dey (lead), Jitaditya Ray, Samadrita Ghosal, Mayukh Sen and Arnab Ghosh. The team was mentored by Prof. Joydeb Hazra, SPOC for SIH at HITK, and Prof. Mousiki Kar.

Heritage Group of Institutions CEO Shri P.K. Agarwal said the outcome reflects the institute’s focus on innovation and the ability of students to address national-level technical problems. The institute’s leadership added that the result demonstrates the strength of its academic environment and the capacity of its students to deliver complex solutions under time constraints.

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