Green order bars red bricks in construction

Gurgaon: Cities in Haryana falling in a 100-km radius of a thermal power plant cannot use red bricks for construction any more, according to a notification by the state pollution watchdog.
The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) said in its circular dated April 21 that such cities, including Gurgaon, can no longer use the conventional red bricks and but need to upgrade their building materials to those made from fly ash (coal dust in common parlance).
In Gurgaon, which has six thermal plants within a radius of 100km, and similarly placed cities, the directive means construction agencies will have to change their technology and materials.
The HSPCB notification restricts the excavation of top soil for manufacturing bricks and promotes the utilisation of fly ash in the manufacturing of building materials.
Every construction agency engaged in construction of buildings within the above-mentioned areas should use only fly ash-based products like bricks and tiles for construction. "The notification will be applicable to private, state and local government bodies which are either engaged in construction or responsible for approving the design," the notification says.
The notification also makes it mandatory for building construction agencies, both in the public and private sectors, to prescribe the use of fly ash and fly ash-based products in their respective tender documents.
"All local authorities shall specify in their respective tender documents, building bylaws and regulations the use of fly ash and fly ash-based products and techniques in building materials, road embankments and so on," the notification says.
An HSPCB official said the board has directed all civic agencies including Huda to amend their rules and construction bylaws suitably to ensure use fly ash-based products in construction and submit their compliance report in two weeks. "The measure will help in reducing pollution," the official said.
Architect sustainable structure expert Abhimanyu Bhatia, said "The strength of bricks and other construction material made of fly ash is equivalent to that of material like red bricks," said Bhatia. He, however, said the construction technology and methodology in our country would have to be improved to an extent that fly ash-based products could be used.
Bhatia had a word of caution on fly ash despite it being ecofriendly. In comparison to red bricks, fly ash bricks lose strength when they are pierced or broken. "We cannot pierce iron nails inside a wall made of fly ash bricks or make any modification in it," Bhatia said.
Some developers, however, were happy about the new notification. Rohit Mohan, spokesperson of BPTP Developers, however, said BPTP would abide by the government order and was committed to reducing pollution.
"We welcome use of fly ash bricks but there are issues related to its quality which need to be sorted out. The technology is new and there is no consistency in its quality," Mohan said.