ZIRO, 27 Mar: NITI Aayog member Dr VK Saraswat said that the CSIR-CRRI steel slag road technology will be a boon to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to build long-lasting heavy duty roads in strategic border areas.
Saraswat said this on Monday while inspecting the 1-km stretch of the Joram-Koloriang road, built using steel slag, on a pilot basis, by the BRO. He was accompanied by representatives of the CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, the BRO, and Tata Steel, besides Lower Subansiri DC Bamin Nime.
Saraswat emphasised on “using alternative road materials like processed steel slag aggregates in place of natural aggregates for road construction to conserve ecology and mountainous topography in hilly states like Arunachal Pradesh.”
The 1-km steel slag road section was constructed by the BRO’s Project Arunank, under the CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, New-Delhi, using processed steel slag aggregates supplied by TATA Steel’s Jamshedpur plant.
Around 1,200 mts of processed steel slag aggregates were transported from Jamshedpur to Itanagar by rail, and then from Itanagar to the project site near Ziro by road.
Central Road Research Institute principal scientist and inventor of the steel slag road technology, Dr Satish Pandey, informed that “waste product of steel manufacturing units called steel slag is utilised in the form of processed steel slag aggregates to construct 40 mm thick bituminous surfacing on the BRO stretch.”
“Steel slag bituminous surfacing, due to its inherent high strength and stiffness, will offer a more durable heavy duty road surface in face of inclement weather conditions in the region,” he added.
Project Arunank Chief Engineer Brig AS Kanwar highlighted the technological initiatives of the BRO “across various border states, including Arunachal Pradesh.”
He said that “this is an initiative of BRO Director General, Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhary, to introduce environment friendly new technologies, and the use of steel slag for road construction was taken up under the aegis of the NITI Aayog as an inter-ministerial collaboration task between the ministries of defence, science & technology, steel and Indian Railways.”
CSIR-Central Road Research Institute Director Dr Manoranjan Parida informed that, “under the CSIR-CRRI technological guidance, steel slag road technology is well-tested in multiple projects across India.”
He further informed that “the CSIR-CRRI is working with leading steel companies, including AMNS India, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, and RINL.”
The pilot project steel slag stretch on the Joram-Koloriang road was executed by the 119 RCC of the 756 BRTF, under the guidance of Project Arunank OC Roshan Kumar. (DIPRO)
