Small players produce fly ash bricks

Fly ash, residue generated in the combustion of coal at power plants, is available in plenty

The slowdown in the realty sector owing to tepid demand has hurt suppliers of construction material but small entrepreneurs manufacturing fly ash-based bricks have their hands full.

"There is no dearth of demand and I supply one lakh bricks every day. I am utilising the full capacity of my plant," said Vinu Paul, director of Paul Bricks Limited, Nagpur.

Fly ash, which is a residue generated in the combustion of coal at thermal power plants, is available in plenty. Bricks made out of fly ash are more cost-effective than conventional red clay bricks. They have been used extensively in the Delhi Metro Rail project.

Anil Arora, director of Delhi-based M J Bricks Company, supplied these bricks to L&T for the construction of Delhi Metro.

Arora is one of the pioneering manufacturers of fly ash-based bricks in India, having forayed into it after the Supreme Court of India issued an order in November 1996 directing that the manufacture of traditional clay bricks be stopped. Arora adopted technology that is based on the use of fly ash, sand and lime.

After several meetings with senior officials in the Delhi government, the firm was selected by the Delhi Vidyut Board to set up a unit near Raj Ghat to make 8,000 bricks a day. The project was commissioned in January 2000.

Today Arora has a capacity of 100,000 bricks a day. To cut costs, Arora set up the plant at the construction site. "It reduced my cost to two-third, as freight costs were saved. It also cuts the emission level in the air by not burning fuel in transportation," he added.

Arora is fortunate he is located in the national capital, where there is no dearth of demand due to mammoth projects by the government and the private sector. Entrepreneurs located in tier-two towns however find it difficult to convince buyers to use bricks made of fly ash.

Vinish Goel, based at Bathinda in Punjab, procures fly ash from the Bathinda thermal plant to run his unit. "It is difficult to convince the end-users of the advantages of the new-technology bricks. We have to convince the architects, the builder and the owner of the house. The architects recommend our product but builders are not educated in small towns and do not understand the benefits. House owners remain apprehensive about making a house out of ash and find it inauspicious."

He adds, "Despite this, it is viable to run this venture, as we get sufficient government orders. As per the guidelines of Government of India, any government project coming up within a 100 km radius of a thermal power plant must use fly ash bricks. A married accommodation project for defence officials is coming up at Bathinda, so my hands are full."

Tarsem Singh, a resident of Ludhiana, set up a plant near this Punjab town, as he wanted to provide green technology to its people. After living in the UK for over 50 years, Singh is a non-resident Indian who now spends six months a year in India supervising a fly ash brick plant that turns out 35,000 bricks a day.

Small entrepreneurs like Tarsem Singh, Vinish Goel, Anil Arora and Vinu Paul have created a niche for themselves. Dozens of construction projects have been stalled owing to the slowdown but players like them are sailing smoothly, reducing their carbon footprint and creating jobs.