Prashak

One of the core activities under the SMARTGRAM® initiative was to enable the local villagers especially the economically weaker sections and low income group communities to empower themselves in accomplishing their aspiration of building a dwelling on their own which is comparable to the best in class modern structure and yet sustainable and affordable. The intent was to infuse a unique financial inclusion model which enabled skilling and productive employment generation opportunities for the EWS and LIG communities.

Prashak Techno Enterprises Pvt Ltd., made the above mission viable through use and deployment of its novel Habitech-NivaraTantra onsite natural sanitation integrated disaster resilient housing technology solutions and proposed the construction of a Gram Panchayat office in accordance with the Haryana Government guidelines at one of the villages under the SMARTGRAM initiative. Prashak submitted the technology proposal for construction of the GRAMALAYA at village Harchandpur and based on the significant cost value proposition, it was taken up and funded under the CSR initiative by NBCC India Limited.

The GRAMALAYA was designed (design plan annexed) to cater to not only the routine functioning of the Gram Panchayat official activities, but also enable the local villagers showcase their products and produce along with space for activities including library and commercial office space for enabling sustainability to cater to long term maintenance.

The novel Technology solutions have been researched and developed at the reputed Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)- an international institute of higher learning based in Thailand. These technology solutions have Intellectual property rights (IPR) vide a portfolio of patent filings owned by AIT and managed by Prashak. Two Indians, Dr. Praful Naik (Director & CEO of Prashak) and Prof. Dr. Siddharth Jabade (Vice Chancellor, Vishwakarma University) are co-inventors of these technology solutions.

The Housing / Building Structure technology comprises 2 key innovations:

"compacted intermeshing®" blocks (CIB) made from local soil judiciously mixed with stabilizers and additives. The production of compacted intermeshing blocks is an entirely green process using novel, simple to use, manual press equipment (operable by unskilled people) for small projects and high pressure Hydraulic press system (operable by unskilled people after short training) for large projects and unlike conventional brick making process, it does not require kilns / furnace to fire the blocks. These blocks have novel structural voids for intermittent horizontal and vertical reinforcement to enable appropriate structural strength obviating use of beams, columns and concrete lintels. The voids in the CIB also enable natural air curtain against temperature, noise pollution and water penetration.
"Peggable Contoured®" flat roofing structure comprising Joist and contoured pans manufactured with the help of novel joist and pan making equipment leading to a flat roof with significantly higher load bearing capacity with much lesser amount of Cement as compared to conventional flat roofs.
This innovative technology solution enables creation of state of the art, disaster resilient environmental friendly, green and cost-effective building structures of ground plus two levels using local materials and resources (unskilled manpower including women) with significantly lower use of Cement and Steel, resulting in low carbon foot print, gender equality and an effective financial inclusion model.
The above technology features with its people centric approach, enables catering the unmet need of the market – a long term durable structure which is sustainable, disaster resilient, green solution for construction structures including housing, empowering masses to build their own house in a very simplistic and most cost affordable way (enables an overall 15-30% cost advantage over conventional systems).
Habitech-NivaraTantra® - the integrated Innovative Building & Sanitation Technology solutions results in accomplishment of multiple value outcomes including breaking the shackles of dependency on construction skills and financial ability and empowering lay people to bring to reality, the creation of respectful, robust and habitable social housing community leading to accomplishing the SMARTGRAM® model more particularly for the rural / peri-urban masses including the bottom of the pyramid comprising Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) & Low Income Group (LIG) communities.