Till date about 7 lakh km of rural roads have been constructed and the target is to build another 50,000 km by 2030 and the focus will be on usage of green technology, said BC Pradhan, consultant director (technical) of National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA).

Talking to The Statesman today at the sidelines of the seminar of promotion of green technology on rural road construction jointly organised by NIT, Durgapur and Bitchem, BC Pradhan said that already NRIDA has brought out a Vision Document 2022, which will be the guidelines for the future rural road constructions in the country.

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“India has the world’s second largest rural road connectivity and the cold-mix bitumen technology has not only a high life cycle but is also eco-friendly as it is 33 per cent less pollutant. The vision of PM Narendra Modi is to reduce 1 lakh billion tonnes of carbon footprint by 2030,” he added.

He further added that the industrial and the mining wastes in this part of the world like over burdens of open cast coal mines, slag of steel plant and fly ash of the thermal power plants can be scientifically used instead of natural resources like top soil as base course material for rural roads constructions.

“Steel plants face trouble with filled up slag banks and thermal power plants also are unable to store the fly ashes and these highly-polluting materials can be reused for road constructions,” he said.

Professor Sadanand Gokhale, chairperson of NIT Durgapur said that 70 per cent roads in the country are rural roads and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana plays a key role. Every year there is an increase of 2 per cent road construction under these schemes.

Dipanjan Bhattachryya, additional secretary of the department of panchayat  and rural development said that the recent cyclones and floods in the state has caused havoc in the conditions of the roads right from the hills to the coastal areas.

About 35,000 kilometres of roads have been constructed in Bengal under the PMGSY scheme and a total of about one lakh km of road is needed to be maintained every year.

Dr Anupam Basu, sirector of NIT Durgapur said that there is need to organise a sequel of such workshops in future and future road constructions should address the issues of  environment friendly and sustainability.