Indian Housing Technology Mela is biggest attraction of ‘Azadi@75 – New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape’ Conference-cum-Expo on Day 2

New Delhi: Indian Housing Technology Mela(IHTM) with 100 participants is the biggestattraction of ‘Azadi@75 – New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape’ Conference-cum-Expo being held in Lucknow from 5th to 7th October 2021.The Expo-cum-Conference was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 5th October. The programme, being held at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in the state capital, is organized as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. The Conference-cum-Expo opened for public on 6th October 2021. While addressing the gathering on Day 1, Hon’ble Prime Minister had extended an invitation to the people of Lucknow city and from various parts of India to attend the Conference-cum-Expo and be a part of witnessing transforming Urban India.

IHTM participants are from across the country, from private and government sectors; Representatives of technology providers of proven and potential technologies; Manufacturers, building centres,innovators fromIITs, R&D institutes; State/Local bodies, implementing agencies of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) and agencies involved in six Light house Projects (LHPs) initiated in six different States as a part of Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India).The foundation stone of LHPs was laid by Hon’ble Prime Minister on 1st January 2021.

At IHTM, 79 technologies covering different aspects of construction of low to mediumheight houses are at display.Participants in IHTM displayed wide range of technology likeInnovation in cement and concrete, environment-friendly andemployment generating indigenously developed bamboo corrugated roofingsheets and ridge cap & bamboo wood; Block made from crop residues andindustrial waste of fly ash, lime sludge and slags from steel industry; pre-castclay hollow blocks made of silt and industrial waste, insulated roofing andwalling components, integrated cost effective precast concrete solutions; Lightgauge steel structural systems; Stay in place formwork system;Innovating doorsystem; New generation waterproofing and construction chemicals; earthquakeresistant confined masonry. Many of the technologies have greatpotential to be used across the country for construction of low to mediumhouses including individual houses constructed under Beneficiary LedConstruction (BLC) vertical of PMAY(U).IHTM displays Compressed Stabilized Mud Block system from Auroville, Puducherry;on the other, it demonstrates Robotic Block laying machine developed by a Start-upfrom Hyderabad.

These technologies are being evaluated by a Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) set up by MoHUA for their technical parameters and further use in field.

Meanwhile, parallel sessions are being hosted at the three-day event constantly with prominentspeakers on varied topics ranging from Innovative Construction Technologies, RERA, Slum-Free cities and Inclusive Housing. The sessions were held under the umbrella of Swatch Bharat Mission, SMART Cities Mission, DAY-NULM and PMAY(U).

On Day 1,two session were hosted on theme ‘How smart cities are re-imagining public spaces’ and ‘Urban Transformation through smart city campaign- How do we ensure institutionalisation and behavioural change’. In first session, Shri Kunal Kumar Joint Secretary and Mission Director Smart Cities Mission, Ms AveluRuhoJt CEO Kohima Smart City, Shri Satyendra Kumar Director HSM, MoEF, Shri Nilabh Saxena CEO Udaipur Smart City, Shri Athar Amir Khan CEO Srinagar, Shri RajendraCholan CEO Bengaluru City and Shri Vishal Kundra Head Design, Planning and Economics AECOM deliberated on taking smart cities from mission to movement will need cities to take key learnings into state policy

In second session Shri ShivdasMeena, Mission Director of Smart Cities Mission Tamil Nadu, Shri M D Pathak Maharashtra, Shri Nikunj Srivastava, Commissioner Urban Department Govt of Madhya Pradesh, Ms Uttara Bharat Kumar John HopkinCenter for Communication Program, Shri Abhijit Lokre Founder and partner , Urban Lab, Shri Sridhar Pabbishetty Director, Kautilya School of Policy and ShreyaGadepalli Managing Trsutee, Urban Works Institute dealt on length as to how Smart cities will have to become catalysts for the surrounding cities to scale the Smart Cities Mission approach of test, learn and scale

A session was hosted on ‘Mainstreaming Innovative Construction Technologies for Low & Mid-Rise Houses’. Discussions and deliberations were made on use of innovative buildingmaterials, processes andtechnologies in the construction sectorand on strategy for standardization, propagation, demonstration and construction using indigenous/innovative technologies. Building entrepreneurship and mainstreaming innovationsinthe construction sector specially for low and mid-rise construction was discussed.Shri SurendrakumarBagde, Additional Secretary, MoHUA, PadmaShri Prof. G. Shankar, Founder & Chief Architectof Habitat Technology Group, Dr. N. Gopalakrishnan, Director, Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Dr. Winfried Damm, Cluster Coordinator, GIZ, Dr. Shailesh Kr. Agrawal, Director, Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC), Prof. Meher Prasad A.,IIT Madras were the esteemed panellists for the session.

Another parallel session included discussions on Strengthening RERA to promote the Real Estate Sector. MoHUA created a platform for all industry leaders with representatives from NAREDCO, CREDAI and various others industry leaders, along with research firms to share learnings, different aspects of RERA and how it will develop the real estate sector. The objective was to strengthen the implementation of RERA and ensure accountability and transparency in the real estate sector. It would give a fillip to the affordable housing sector in the country and instil confidence in home buyers.Shri SurendrakumarBagde, Additional Secretary, MoHUA, attended the session along withShri Dinesh Kapila, Economic Advisor (Housing), MoHUA,Rajan Bandelkar, President, NAREDCO, Shri Rajive Kumar, Chairperson, UP RERA, Shri Harsh Vardhan Patodia, President, CREDAI.

A picture containing text, indoor, ceiling, tableDescription automatically generated

Day 2 of the Conference-cum-Expo began with a host of workshops. Shri DurgaShanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA, chaired two sessions on ‘Making a City Smart – Towards making a shift from Mission to Movement’ and on ‘India’s Metro Rail System: At 100 years of independence’ with Aatma Nirbhhar initiatives of Metrolite and Metro Neo.

A seminar on ‘Inclusive Housing’ under Awas Par Samvaad initiative of PMAY(U) was held. As part of Awas Par Samvaad, 75 workshops were to be held across States/UTs to discuss and share learnings on housing and various themes surrounding it.Notably, this was the 75th and the last workshop under the programme.Shri AmritAbhijat, Principal Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh,Shri Suvasish Das, Director, MoHUA, Shri Sanjay Joshi, Additional Senior G.M, HDFC, Dr Sejal Patel, Professor, CEPT University, Ms BijalBrahambhatt, Director SEWA Housing Trust, Dr ParthMukhopadyay, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research and Ms Vandana Sehgal, Dean, Faculty of Architecture, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University.

A group of people on a stageDescription automatically generated with medium confidence

Another parallel session on Slum Free Cities was also hosted. Shri SurendrakumarNagde Additional Secretary MoHUA, Ms Y Srilakhsmi Secretary Urban Development, Andhra Padesh, Shri G Mathivathnam , Commissioner and Secretary Tamil Nadu, Shri Deepak Kumar, Principal Secretary Uttar Pradesh, Shri Ajoy Sharma, CEO PMIDC Punjab, Shri Dinesh Kapila Economic Advisor(Housing) MoHUAdiscussed as to how various States have dealt with slum redevelopment. The experience of Odisha government on land rights to 1.75 lakh slum dwellers under JAGA mission, and similar model of Punjab government of giving land titles was shared.

At the session on Innovative Construction Technologies in the Construction Sector, brainstorming was done, and ideas were delivered on how technology providers of innovative construction technologies can be connected with developers and academicians for wider reach of the technology. Basically, how market opportunities can be provided to them was the core of the discussion. Shri Surendra kumar Bagde, Additional Secretary, MoHUA, chaired the session while the noted panellists were Prof. Ravi Sinha – IIT Bombay, Prof. Meher Prasad – IIT Madras.