President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurates Ashiana Annexe in Dehradun

Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India, on 10 July 2017 inaugurated the Ashiana Annexe in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

The Ashiana Annexe comprises of twelve low cost dwelling units constructed to accommodate officers and staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan during Presidential visits to the Retreat at ‘Ashiana’.

On the other hand, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between M/s Prashak Techno Enterprises and Central Building Research Institute was also signed to collaborate for effective proliferation of Habitech-NivaraTantra Technology solutions with a focus on low cost, disaster resilient housing, more particularly in the rural areas to enable vision of Housing for All with a special emphasis on housing for the economically weaker sections and low income group communities.

Key highlights

• These dwelling units have been constructed using the Habitech-NivaraTantra - Onsite Sanitation Integrated Community Housing Technology Innovations developed at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT).

• The Technology innovations comprise unique blocks known as compacted intermeshing blocks, which are made from local soil.

• The production of these blocks is on site and is an entirely green process.

• These blocks have novel cavities for horizontal and vertical reinforcement using steel bars, which results in eliminating use of the conventional beams, columns and concrete lintel.

• The cavities also enable natural air curtain against temperature, noise pollution and water penetration.

• These dwelling units are disaster resilient, sustainable and cost effective.

• Scientific treatment of sanitation waste enables mitigation of disease risk and ensures health and wellbeing of residents and the community.