Bhubaneswar: The state government will use fly ash generated from various power plants functioning in the state to safeguard environment.

To begin with, officials have decided to make use of fly ash bricks mandatory for buildings in the urban areas.

The plan came afoot during a review meeting taken up by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi, where discussions were made on proper utilisation of fly ash generated from the thermal power plants. During the meeting, an idea was cropped up to use fly ash bricks in construction of buildings in the city areas.

To execute the plan, the chief secretary has directed the housing and urban development department to come up with necessary building by-laws that will make use of the fly ash bricks mandatory for construction of any city buildings. At present, the building laws do not have any such provisions. "There are six major thermal power plants in the state, which are generating fly ash extensively. Fly ash is hazardous for the environment, but we have provision for its proper utilisation. We need to ensure 100 per cent utilisation of fly ash, for which we have come up with the idea," said a department official.

Sources said the building by-laws would be amended for those cities in the state, which have population of more than one million. But, only Bhubaneswar qualifies in the category. 

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