To speed up the drive towards sustainability, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has launched a hackathon — Path Chintan 2024 — to develop pilot projects focusing on low-carbon technology and advanced construction materials.
The hackathon is meant to identify and promote solutions to the challenges encountered by MoRTH in its push towards sustainability. The ministry aims to handhold innovators and technology providers by facilitating the eco-system needed to demonstrate efficacy of a solution through pilot projects, monitoring its performance through a mentor institute of repute, and, finally, adopting the solution.
Anyone can participate in the hackathon, including government and private institutes, colleges, and universities as well as consultants, contractors, concessionaires, technology providers, individual innovators, and start-ups.
The ministry is also inviting proposals for monitoring of construction quality, value-added use of processed municipal waste (other than construction and demolition material), and real-time compaction monitoring and documentation of pavement layers and/or the construction sequencing of bridges and other structures.
Applicants can send their proposals to MoRTH at 3-3.30 pm on January 31. The winners will be announced on February 15.
The applicant must hand in a one-pager containing the problem statement and the proposed solution supported by justifications and/or documentary evidence, as applicable. The proposal will be evaluated and shortlisted by a five-member jury.
The jury will include an officer from the ministry or the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) or the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHDCIL), in the rank of chief engineer.
The MoRTH chair professor, a scientist from the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) or any other institute under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and two domain experts will make up the rest of the jury.
The committee members will be approved by the Director General (Road Development). There will be a separate jury for each theme.
The winners of the hackathon will be awarded ₹1 lakh each as well as the Indian Roads Congress accreditation fee for the solution.