Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh, announced that processed steel slag road technology can reduce road construction costs by roughly 40% while offering four times the structural strength of traditional asphalt roads. Speaking at the official conferment of the Guinness World Record for the “World’s Longest Road Built with Processed Steel Slag Aggregates” in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, the Minister emphasized that these roads can extend maintenance cycles up to 15 years in suitable conditions. He called for a transition from “one project to many projects, and one state to many states,” advocating for integration beyond the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to include Railways, state authorities, and private real estate developers.
The 1.85-km record-holding stretch in Raigarh was jointly executed by the CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI) and Jindal Steel Limited. The ceremony included the virtual inauguration of the road, the launch of the “Steel Grit” brand, and the signing of a Technology Transfer Agreement between CSIR-CRRI and Jindal Steel. Director General of CSIR, Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, announced that the partnership is already scaling up to build a 40-km steel slag road near Jindal Steel’s Angul plant in Odisha.
The initiative aligns directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Waste to Wealth” vision for a circular economy by turning industrial by-products into valuable infrastructure assets. Dr. Jitendra Singh highlighted the technology’s critical utility in high-rainfall zones—such as the Northeast—and heavy-load industrial corridors, where traditional roads suffer rapid degradation. By repurposing steel slag aggregates, the technique conserves natural aggregates obtained through quarrying, offering a cost-effective, environmentally resilient, and sustainable solution for India’s rapidly expanding infrastructure network.
परंपराओं की गूंज और विकास की बात: बतीउड़ा मेले का भव्य आगाज़
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