MORTH directs NHAI to make use of fly-ash bricks, blocks and tiles for construction

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has directed the National Highways Authority of India to mandatorily use the bricks, blocks, and tiles made of fly ash for the construction of masonry structures, flooring, and footpath as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MOEFCC).

“In view of the MOEFCC directives, it is felt necessary to promote the use of fly-ash bricks, blocks, and tiles in the NH work. Physical requirements, general quality, and dimensions of all such fly-ash bricks/blocks/tiles shall be governed by relevant Indian standard,” said the MORTH order.

It added that the mandatory use of the fly-ash bricks, blocks, tiles, and other items should meet the Indian standards and be subject to availability.

MOEFCC has issued various directives to all construction agencies to use the fly-ash produced by the thermal power plants in the construction of roads within a radius of 300 km of any coal/lignite-based thermal power plant. “There is a huge generation of fly ash in the country and a substantial portion of it remains unutilized which is an environmental concern, creating health hazards apart from the occupation of large areas of precious land for its storage/disposal. Disposal and utilization of ash generated at the thermal power plants have become a pressing and urgent task. Bulk utilization of the fly-ash is possible in the field of civil engineering applications, especially the construction of road embankments,” the Road Transport and Highways Ministry said making use of fly-ash in road and flyover embankment construction on NH mandatory.

However, the sources in the NHAI said that the low utilisation of the fly-ash was mainly because of the thermal power plants which refuse to abide by the MOEF direction to transport fly-ash free of cost up to MORTH d500 km for the government projects.