GANGTOK, 11 July [IPR]: In another move towards making Sikkim one of the greenest and cleanest states in the country, the Public Works ( Roads & Bridges) Department and Rural Management & Development Department, Government of Sikkim, in association with Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi and Bitchem Asphalt Technologies Limited, launched the Green Road Mission for the state of Sikkim in a programme organised in the capital on Thursday.
The Mission was launched by State Public Works (Roads & Bridges) and RMDD Ministers GM Gurung and SB Subedi in the presence of Secretaries, Chief Engineers and other engineers and dignitaries, Director CRRI, Principal Scientist CRRI and senior officials of the Government of Sikkim.
The Departments have collaborated with the country’s apex roads research agency Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) of the Government of India, and Bitchem which is a pioneer in cold mix technology for road construction. Bitchem, it may be mentioned here, has supported various PWDs and SSRDAs in paving of more than 2,500 kms of rural roads in the last five years at pan India level.
The Mission aims at achieving its objective of sustainable development and harnessing the socio-economic and environmental benefits of cold mix technology for rural roads and state roads and helping the country benefit from reducing carbon foot prints. It may be informed here that Bitchem is CRRI’s exclusive licensee for supply of cold mix technology for India.
Speaking on the launch, Minister PWD (R&B), GM Gurung, the chief guest for the programme, expressed hope that the collaboration will bring about a paradigm shift in the quality of roads in the state. He urged all the concerned officers and technical experts to deliver their best to ensure optimum benefit from this valuable addition to the state. Emphasizing that road is a vital infrastructure for development, the Minister shared his commitment to improve the quality of roads in the state in near future.
RM&DD Minister, SB Subedi, in his address, welcomed the collaboration and maintained that the cold mix technology is well suited for the state of Sikkim considering its eco-friendly approach towards development. He added that the technology enables construction of roads in all weathers which is a great boon for the state considering the prolonged monsoons and weather fluctuations.
Similarly, Dr. S Gangopadhyay [Director, CRRI] and cold mix technologist Saurikhia [Principal Scientist, CRRI] informed delegates about the advantages of cold mix technology for road construction and how it can help Sikkim achieve benefits under the Green Roads Mission.
Dr. Gangopadhyay said that it is critical to deploy greener and faster technologies like cold mix to achieve the target of connecting the unconnected habitations. He further stated, “Development projects today must embrace measures which reduce carbon emissions and cause less harm to health of environment and humans. Cold mix is an environment-friendly, pollution-free and sustainable technology recognized world over for its efficacy. It is also far superior than the conventional hot mix technology which is clearly degrading our environment.”
It was informed that the Tripartite Technology Management Agreement (TMA) between CSIR-CRRI, R&B/RMDD Departments, Government of Sikkim and Bitchem with regards to implementation of Cold Mix Technology for construction and maintenance of roads in Sikkim have been executed to ensure implementation of the Green Road Mission widely in the state of Sikkim.
It is learnt that the biggest advantage of the cold mix technology is that on an average approximately 1500 liters of diesel per kilometre is saved with the use of cold mix technology and if we can construct over 1000 km in a year in each state of India, the benefits are enormous. In addition to this, no heating is required in this technology and this promotes Green Job culture in the state and country. Green jobs is a very vocal programme of the International Labour Organisation to help governments create safe and non-hazardous jobs for the poor.
The programme was also addressed by Secretary RM&DD, DR Nepal and Secretary Roads & Bridges, TB Rajalim.
A short film on cold mix technology was also screened during the programme.
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