CBRI CELEBRATES FOUNDATION DAY

P.S. Chauhan

The Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) Roorkee, the premier institute of the country for higher studies and research in building technology, celebrated its 65th foundation day with usual gaiety and fanfare. The institute, which is one of the leading units of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Reseach (CSIR) was set up in 1947 to develop technology suited to people of different income groups in various geo-climatic regions of the country with focus on indigenous material, local skills and eco-friendly approach.

Some of the landmarks achieved by the institute are the utilization of agricultural and industrial wastes for building materials, developing technology for earthquake resistant constructions, rehabilitation work in the natural disasters hit areas in the country and development of a device of gravitational and settling chambers for brick kilins to make them pollution free.

Speaking in the function organized on the occasion, the chairman of the Kinetic Motors Group, Arun Firaudia said that the CBRI should use its technology to develop model villages where people should feel proud to live in and stop migrating towards the cities. He further said that the task of constructing cost effective and durable habitats, in sync with the requirements of a particular region, could only be achieved by combining applied engineering and research.

"If we could do so, the whole scenario of the country, through building model villages, will undergo a radical transformation within the next 30-40 years", he remarked. The former director of the institute, Rajendra Kumar Bhandari, lauded the pioneering efforts of the institute in providing most appropriate economic solutions for housing to the poorest of the poor while also providing expertise for the highly specialized structures in the country.

Highlighting the recent strides taken by the institute, the director of the institute, S.K. Bhattacharya, said that the institute was fully geared up to face the challenges of the future. "Steps have been initiated to meet human resource crunch and, along with research, higher studies and Ph.D. courses have been launched in the institute", informed the director. The function was convened by Yadvendra Pandey, a senior scientist of the institute.