SHILLONG: The landslide-prone roads of Meghalaya may soon find a reliable solution in Jute Geo-Textile (JGT) technology which promises to address the problem of soil erosion and add to the life of the roads in the State which is witness to abundant rainfall.
National Jute Board (NJB) Chief Consultant, Topbrata Sanyal said that the introduction of the JGT technology will help address the perennial problem of soil erosion, landslides and short life of roads in Meghalaya.
Sanyal, who was speaking during a workshop on JGT held here on Friday with the objective of sensitising the state government departments about the need for using environment friendly and cost effective technology, claimed that the use of the JGT technology will strengthen the sub-grade for ensuring both economy in construction and longer life in the pavement.
Explaining the reliability of JGT in road construction, the NJB chief consultant said, “Jute does not last itself, but acts as a catalyst to make the soil more stable which leads to longer life of the road.”
Use of JGT also allows the need for a thinner layer of concrete materials to build a road compared to that without JGT, which ultimately reduces the cost, he said.
However, despite the efficacy of this new technology, the Centre and State Governments are not very keen to adopt the JGT in major construction works like roads, embankments among others, said NJB project manager, AK Khastagir said.
He said that although 170 trial projects were successfully undertaken in 22 states by two Central Government and 19 state government agencies so far, no state except for West Bengal has shown practical interest in promoting jute in a big way.
West Bengal, which contributes 70 per cent of total jute production in the country, has already included JGT in its “rate list” allowing it to be used in relevant construction work and is also in the process of making its use mandatory for construction of PMGSY and other rural roads.
“As a trial project, JGT was used in constructing a seven-km stretch in Tripura among the 170 projects in few other states of the country,” Khastagir said.
Appreciating the response of Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma towards use of JGT during a recent conference in New Delhi, project coordinator
(Contd in P-10)
