Guwahati, June 10: The Pollution Control Board Assam is toeing the lead-by-example line as it plans to convert its regional offices into green buildings.
The regional offices - in Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Golaghat, Nagaon, Tezpur, Bongaigaon and Silchar - have been running from rented accommodation over the past four decades of the regulatory body's inception. "Soon they will have their own structures, which will be modelled on the green building concept. There is a plan to set up eco parks as well," PCBA chairman R.M. Dubey told The Telegraph.
The board is in touch with the Green Rating Integrated Habitat Assessment (Griha), the country's national rating system for green buildings.
A green building is one with a smaller carbon footprint, which uses less water, optimises energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants.
Land for the offices, barring in Dibrugarh (where a building has been acquired), has been allotted by the state government in phases since 2013.
"To start with, four offices - Nagaon, Sivasagar, Golaghat and Tezpur - will be set up in the next three to five years. Work to construct the building on a two- katha plot in Nagaon is already under way while that of land-filling and erection of boundary walls have been completed at Sivasagar (two katha) and Golaghat (three katha)," Dubey said.
Besides, the board's head-office at Bamunimaidan will be shifted to Amingaon, on the outskirts of the city. "In February this year, a three- bigha plot was allotted for construction of the head-office at Amingaon," he said.
The regulatory authority will invest between Rs 2crore and Rs 2.5crore in each building.
The PCBA, set up on June 2, 1975, had turned over a new leaf on renovation since 2011. What's more, only last month, the Bureau Veritas Certification, the global leader in testing, inspection and certification, accorded ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) status to the board.
"The office at Bamunimaidan was remodelled in 2011," Gokul Bhuyan, senior environmental engineer, PCBA, said.
The concept of green buildings is still nascent, albeit gaining ground, in Assam. A chapter on it was incorporated in the Guwahati Building Construction (Regulation) Bye-laws, 2014.
"While it is not mandatory for one to construct a green building, the new byelaws have provisions to offer incentives to those adhering to the concept in the form of property tax concessions," city-based consultant engineer J.N. Khataniar told The Telegraph today.
Khataniar's firm Shristie has already acquired certification from Griha to construct a state-of-the-art building for the state water resources department at Basistha here.
Dispur had last year signed a memorandum with New Delhi-based The Energy and Resources Institute for providing green-building consultancy.
"Three buildings - the National Law University (under construction) at Amingaon, the proposed integrated directorate complex at Betkuchi and the Assam House (being reconstructed) in New Delhi - have been registered under Griha," a PWD official said.
"Besides, important government buildings with an area of 2,500square metres and above will soon be included under this concept," he said.
