ITANAGAR, 5 Sep: The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) will soon launch an environment-friendly technology to construct roads in Arunachal Pradesh, keeping in view the challenges faced by the construction agency in the state due to fragile soil status and landslides, a senior official said on Monday.
The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), established in 1952 as a constituent laboratory of India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), conducted in-depth research and evolved environment-friendly techniques for road construction in Arunachal, BRO’s Project Arunank Chief Engineer Brig Anirudh S Kanwar said.
The CRRI evolved the technology at the desire of BRO Director General Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry, Brig Kanwar said.
The technique would be taken up soon by BRO’s Project Arunank as a pilot project in the state, he said.
The cost effective technique, using steel slag, a byproduct of steel, would be used in constructing roads in the state, which would be more durable for roads in the landlocked state, Brig Kanwar said.
CSIR-CRRI principal scientist Dr Satish Pandey, who has been part of India’s first steel slag road of Surat-Hazira, would assist the BRO for its trials.
Dr Pandey had visited the site jointly with BRO officials for preliminary planning, Brig Kanwar said, adding that the technology being tried under the supervision of BRO Additional Director General (East) PKH Singh, has huge potential in providing a cost effective alternative to conventional aggregates in an environment-friendly manner for long-lasting roads.
The topographical background prompted the BRO to go for innovative road construction, another senior engineer said, adding that Arunachal is characterised by high annual rainfall, forest vegetation and diversity in soils. (PTI)
