A SUMMARY OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIVE BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES AND KARNATAKA

BUILDING CENTRES MEET HELD AT THE RV-TIFAC

COMPOSITES DESIGN CENTRE, BANGALORE

The Conference on Innovative Building Technologies and Karnataka Building Centres Meet, which was organized by the following organizations, was held at the premises of the RV-TIFAC Composites Design Centre, RV College of Engineering Campus, Bangalore, on 7^th Jan, 2002.

1.            Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council, Ministry of Urban Development & Poverty Alleviation, Govt. of India, New Delhi;

2.            Housing & Urban Development Corporation Ltd., New Delhi;

3.            Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation Ltd., Bangalore;

4.            RV-TIFAC Composites Design Centre, Bangalore

The Conference was attended by over 100 delegates, including Project Managers from the Building Centres in Karnataka and many senior officials from the sponsoring organizations.

INAUGURAL FUNCTION

The Conference was inaugurated by Sri Qamarul Islam, the Hon’ble Minister for Housing, Government of Karnataka.

Welcome Address

Welcoming the Minister and the delegates, Sri T. N. Gupta, Executive Director, BMTPC, gave a brief account of the initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Urban Development & Poverty Alleviation, Government of India, under the directions given by the Hon’ble Union Minister, Sri Ananthkumar. These initiatives which include the formulation of a National Housing Policy, the 2-million housing programme, the “slumless cities” programme, Lab-to-Land Technology Transfer Programme, the Building Centres Movement and Programmes for development of cost-effective, eco-friendly building materials and products etc. were being implemented by BMTPC and HUDCO.

Keynote Address

In his keynote address Sri N. Sivasailam, I.A.S., Managing Direction, Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation Ltd., Bangalore, traced the development of the Building Centres from the early beginnings in Kerala about three decades ago. At present, there are more than 400 such centres in the country. Karnataka has the distinction of having one Building Centre (Nirmithi Kendra) in each District.

Sri Sivasailam then highlighted some of the innovative features of the low-cost housing programmes undertaken by the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation. Thanks to the help and support provided by BMTPC and HUDCO and the RV-TIFAC Composites Design Centre, the building centres in Karnataka, especially those in Chitradurga, Bellary, Raichur, Mysore, Koppal, Bagalkot, Mangalore, Gadag, significant progress in manufacturing and providing cost-effective, eco-friendly building products to meet the requirements of the housing programmes. He was confident that the building centres in Karnataka would be able to achieve still greater success over the next 5 years.

Before concluding his address, Sri Sivasailam outlined the many challenges that still lie ahead and emphasized the need to develop more and more cost-effective building materials, build the markets and create a dedicated cadre of project managers.

Inaugural Address

The Hon’ble Minister for Housing, Sri Qamarul Islam, Government of Karnataka, who delivered the inaugural address, explained how the country has been able to attain self-sufficiency and fulfill the basic needs of the people in the matter of food and clothing. However, in regard to provision of housing for the people, much remains to be done. In Karnataka alone, about 11.0 lakh people were identified, during the census conducted during 1991, as those who were in need of adequate shelters. Till about a year ago, the State Government was able to construct only about 40 to 50 thousand low-cost houses per annum. However, under the ambitious programme being implemented from last year, it is proposed to construct over 2.0 lakhs houses annually over the next 5 years. In order to achieve this goal, the Government had set up a separate Agency – the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation – about 18 months ago.

The Hon’ble Minister said that he was happy to announce that during the last one year the Corporation was successful in completing the construction of about 2.20 lakhs houses and the target set for the next year would be 3.00 lakhs, with incremental additions during the subsequent years. The State Government had also embarked upon another major programme to abolish slums in and to provide suitable accommodation for the affected people. Yet another programme would cover construction of community toilet complexes in both urban and rural areas.

The Hon’ble Minister complimented the RV-TIFAC Composites Design Centre for the excellent work that was being done in the development of alternative building materials and several cost-effective, eco-friendly composite building products. He was also glad to note that these products are proposed to be used extensively in the housing programmes of the Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation.

The Hon’ble Minister took the opportunity to announce that the State Government would be willing to provide about 40 acres of land, near Hoskote, for setting up a Training Centre for Building Materials & Technologies and other development activities. He would like to suggest that a detailed proposal for taking up this project be prepared as quickly as possible and sent to the State Government for consideration.

Presidential Address

Sri M. K. Panduranga Setty, Chairman, Board of Governors of CDC, in his address, thanked the Minister for his generous offer of land and requested him to lend his continued support for the future development activities. In particular, he would seek the good offices of the Minister in the matter of getting exemptions from sales tax and excise duty for composite products and in facilitating a visit to the Centre by the Hon’ble Chief Minister as early as possible.

The inaugural session was concluded with a vote of thanks by Sri C. Veerabhadriah, General Manager (Programme Implementation), Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation Ltd., Bangalore.

TECHNICAL SESSION

During the Technical Session-I, presided by Sri N. Sivasailam I. A. S., M.D., Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation, Sri A. K. Bansal, Director, Indian Plywood Research Industries & Training Institute (IPIRTI), Bangalore, made a detailed presentation on the activities being carried on at the Institute on the design and development of bamboo-based products.

In the next Technical Session, two technical presentations were made – one by Dr. R. Gopalan, Direction & CEO, CDC on “Composite Product Development at CDC” and the other, by Sri R. K. Celly, Chief Technology Marketing, BMTPC, New Delhi, on BMTPC’s Role in promoting alternative building materials and products.

During the Technical Session – II, five technical presentations were made by the Karnataka Building Centres, namely, Sri G. N. Malji, Project Manager, Bijapur, Sri G. Sridhar, Project Manager, Bellary, Sri C. V. Chandrashekar, Project Manager, Koppal, Sri M. T. Manjunath, Project Manager, Mysore, and Sri H. Naresh Project Manager, Mandya. The session was chaired by Col. A. B. Das, Executive Director, HUDCO, Chennai.

VALEDICTORY FUNCTION

The valedictory function was held in the evening in the distinguished presence of the Hon’ble Union Minister for Urban Development & Poverty Alleviation, Government of India, Sri. Ananthkumar.

Sri M. R. Srinivasa Murthy, Principal Secretary to the Government, Department of Housing, Government of Karnataka, in his address, stressed on the urgent need to address the existing housing shortages in the country through the joint efforts of the Central and State Governments. He said that the Government of Karnataka is spending about 500 crores annually on housing and it is ready and would gladly accept more financial support from the Central Government to give a greater push to the programmes.

Apart from funds, there is also the need to promote technology development for alternative building materials and products to cater to the growing needs of the housing programmes. It is in this context that the role of the Nirmithi Kendras and Building Centres assumes critical importance. The Government of Karnataka is providing the required support to the Nirmithi Kendras so that they could function to their full potentials.

The Hon’ble Union Minister, Sri. Ananthkumar, began his valedictory address by complimenting Sri Panduranga Setty, the Director and the team of engineers in the RV-TIFAC Composites Design Centre on the wonderful work done at the Centre in developing alternative building materials and products for application sin the housing and building sector.

He said that the funds provided for BMTPC to promote sustainable technology development of building materials and products would be raised substantially during the current and the next year.

The Hon’ble Minister outlined the Prime Minister’s Vision for providing housing for all by the year 2010. Towards this objective, a total of 330 lakhs houses – 163 lakhs in the rural areas and 67.00 lakhs in the cities – would be built over the next 10 years. The Government of India would give a subsidy of Rs. 1,500 Crores per annum, while HUDCO would provide loans to the extent of Rs. 5,500 Crores per annum to help construction 36 lakhs houses – 25.00 lakhs in the urban and 11.00 lakhs in the rural areas.

The value of building materials and products that are required for the housing sector would be of the order of Rs. 42,000 crores over the ten year period. It is in this context that it becomes highly necessary for the R&D Centres to show-case the innovative building technologies that have been developed and also to promote technology transfer to the industry for commercialization.

He called upon BMTPC, HUDCO and CDC to become joint partners and develop model low-cost houses. Permanent building marts (which could perhaps be called “Nirmana Bazaars”) could also be set up so that the people could visit such bazaars and choose and buy under one single roof whatever building materials or products they need to build their houses. He would be very glad to support the establishment of the first Nirmana Bazaar in Karnataka, if suitable land for this purpose is provided by the State Government.

The Hon’ble Minister spoke on the need for ushering in a “Crucible of Housing Revolution”, on the lines of the Green Revolution, the White Revolution and the IT Revolution that had greatly transformed the economy of the country in recent times. The housing sector can also become one of the major engines of growth and promote increased employment opportunities for the people and enable each family to become entitled to a house of their own.

The conference came to a successful conclusion, with Dr. R. Gopalan proposing a vote of thanks.

KARNATAKA BUILDING CENTRES MEET

At the end of the Conference, the Karnataka Building Centres meet was held under the chairmanship of Sri. N. Sivasailam IAS, MD of Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation. Sri. T. N. Gupta and R. K. Celly of BMTPC and Dr. R. Gopalan were also in the Chair.

The Project manger of each of the Building Centres present explained the activities of his Centre, the equipment and facilities that were available at present, the additional items of equipment that are required, and the problems that need to be overcome.

After these detailed presentations, it was finally agreed that the Building Centres would complete a detailed questionnaire and send it to the MD of the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation, indicating  their needs for more funds, additional equipment and other facilities. The Corporation would then consolidate the questionnaires received and send a detailed proposal to BMTPC by 15^th Feb, 2002 for processing.