Road and Highways sector is increasing the use of affordable and sustainable technologies
Increasing application of Science and Technology (S&T) in the Road Transport and Highways sector is adding great value to India’s developmental journey with the availability of the world-class indigenous technology for road and highway construction in the country.
Stating this on 9 May 2022, Minister of State of Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh said, “India is taking lead and marching fast with a vengeance to outpace many developing countries in cutting-edge technologies and reiterated that India’s ascent in coming decades will be determined through Science, Technology and Innovation.
“The use of affordable, sustainable and recyclable technologies in the Road and Highways sector is fast building the arterial network of India,” he said at a programme to dedicate to the public two equipment developed by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in the Ministry of Science & Technology for latest value addition in road construction and highways.
Referring to the dedication of two equipment of ‘Mobile Cold Mixer Cum Paver’ for constructing black top layer using bitumen emulsion and ‘Patch Fill Machine’ for Pothole repair to the nation, Dr Singh said, these are the perfect examples of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” as both the equipment are completely built indigenously.
The Cold Mixer and Patch Fill Machine will play a significant role in building roads and Highways in Hilly States of India, particularly in the North-Eastern Region, he pointed out.
Dr Singh said, “CSIR is known for its cutting edge R&D knowledge base in diverse S&T areas and in addition to collaboration with the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) for roads and road transportation sector, MoRTH and other CSIR laboratories can join hand to provide better technological interventions in various other sectors such as Tunnelling, Alternate fuels, Electronics (RFID Tags, etc), Binders for road pavement – Hydrocarbon as well as Geopolymer, Road Side Plantation, Environment Impact Studies, Machineries & Equipment, among others.
“Major R&D Programmes of CSIR-CRRI encompass the entire spectrum of roads and road transportation including bridges, road safety, road environment and so on,” he added.
The Minister has initiated a process wherein scientists from different streams separately sit with representatives of each of the sectoral Ministries to explain to them how best they can utilise the available technology. Many of the sectoral Ministries are not fully aware of the technology being offered for application in their sector, he noted. fiinews.com
