The Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, withits head office at Calcutta is 55 years old ofmany of its regional centres spread throughoutthe country, very often hold national andinternational seminars, workshops andmeetings so that the members can learn,understand and interact among themselves.

Dr. Kulkarni who was the council member ofthe institute and Head of Department ofChemical Technology, Osmania University,took all the necessary steps to start this regionalcentre. The first General Body was held onOctober 1, 1959. Dr. C. Chenna Reddy waselected convener to look after the formation.

In consultation with Waltair centre, thejurisdiction of the Hyderabad centre wasfinalized to include the following ten districtsof Andhra Pradesh, Adilabad, Nizamabad,Warangal, Nalgonda, Khammam, Karimnagar,Medak Mahboobnagar, Kurnool and Atrafbaldaof Hyderabad Dist. as it was called then. Therewas no provision in the Institute for un-classified area as is now a the first General Bodymeeting following were elected for theHyderabad Regional Centre.

       Chairman : Dr. S.H. Zaheer 
       Secretary : Dr. Y. Venkatesham 
       Members  : Dr. S.A. Saletor 
                                          Dr. B.S. Kulkarni
                                          Sri P. Veereshwar Rao
                                          Sri M.M. Ravi
                                         Dr. K.S. Chari
                                         Dr. M.G. Krishna
                                         Dr. C. C. Reddy and
                                         Sri M.A. Ekambaram

Sri D.S. Dattar (M), Sri Lilananda Gupta (M), SriD.B.K. Murti (M), Sri G.S. Pradhan (AM), Sri S.S.Joshi (AM) Dr. R. Vaidyeswaran (AM), Sri S.N.Nagasundaram (AM), Sri. M. Ahmed (AM), SriM.S. Kumaraswamy (AM), Dr. M.A. Sivasabhan(AM), Dr. D. Sivaramaiah (AM), Dr. P.S.Ramachandran (AM), Sri M.B. Narsimha (GM),Sri P. Sreerama Murthy (GM) and Sri H.S. Rao(GM), making a total of 30. The first batch ofregular B.Tech course students having comefrom the than Department of ChemicalTechnology in 1958, the membershipawareness were also created and themembership of the Institute continuously increased.
The objects of the regional centre formed were:

1. to enable all members of the Instituteresiding or practising or carrying onbusiness within the Zonal Limits, to meet,sh~re & discuss problems of chemicalengineering interest.
2. to hold meetings, discussions, symposiaetc., on topics of Chemical Engineeringinterest.
3. to carryout, in consultation with thecouncil of the Institute all such activitiesas will further the aims and objectives ofthe Indian Institute of Chemical Engineersand specially those covering the regional centre.

The first activity of the new Hyderabad regional centre was to arrange three technical films of 20 mts each on December 3, In 1970, 23rd Annual Session was well attended in Hyderabad. In 1971, a Gold Medal was instituted by the regional centre to the best student of Osmania University, B.Tech Course. In 1982, Ramanathan memorial essay writing prize was introduced for student members of this regional centre. 1982 also saw the introduced of library books housed in the institute office. 1985 was the silver jubilee year of the formation of the regional centre and at the National seminar held in March, 1985, members of the Institute who were residing then at Hyderabad and having a continuous membership for more than 25 years as on 30th June. 1984 were honoured. Many seniors have left this world, such as Dr. S.H. Zaheer, Dr. S.A. Saletor, Sri M.M. Ravi, Sri D.B.K. Murthi, Dr. M.G. Krishna, Dr. D. Sivaramaiah, Sri V. Krishnamurthy, Dr. P. Madhusudhan Rao, Sri M.S. Kumaraswamy and Dr. P.S. Murthy.

The activities of the regional centre were so arranged that members had an opportunity to meet, discuss on many chemical engineering aspects. As suggested, to give more time for meeting and discussion, 1967 saw it in the form of annual dinners, which have become a regular feature. 1981 was the year of introduction of annual seminar on some important topics. Technical lectures seminars and General bodies were so arranged that, membership drive and membership awareness is kept in mind. A list of as the chairmen and Hon. Secretaries are presented in the following pages. 39th Annual Session of HChE was hosted by HRC in a grand scale with Mr. T.K.K. Krishnan, HRC Chairman, Mr. M. Mohan Reddy as organizing Secretary and Mr. M.R. Krishnaiah as Chairman of Organising Committee.

From 1981 to 2001 HRC has organized annually series of national seminars on topics of interest viz. Cement, Pulp and Paper, Fertilizers, Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, Saf~ in Chemical Industries, Alcohol Based Industries. Problems and Prospects of Pollution Control,Specially Chemicals, Emerging Trends in Design and fabrication of Chemical Process Equipment and Wealth from Waste.

In the year 2002, during the period 19-22 December, 2002, the Hyderabad Regional Centre conducted CHEMCON - 2002 under the stewardship of Dr. K. Anji Reddy (NOC Chairman). Dr. K.v. Raghavan (LaC Chairman) and Prof. S. Venkateshwar, organising Secretary. This event was a trend setter in many ways and was a grand success once again depicting the organising capabilities of the Hyderabad Regional Centre.

In the past two years, the Centre has been conducting number of programmed for the Student's Chapters affiliated to it and the prizes are given away under the Endowments scheme of Dr. B.V. Raju, Sri Alam Pandu and Prof. V. Gopala Krishnan.

The current seminar on nuclear fuel materials is a topic of utmost importance to the nation and I-iyderabad Regional Centre is proud to associate itself with Nuclear fuel complex in organising this event.

On this occasion let us recall the motto our Founder President, Dr. H.L. Roy has given us - ICH DIENE (I Serve) we dedicate ourselves to the growth of the Professional body in this country.