The granite processors in Orissa’s Ganjam district are gearing up to produce “granite brick”, a value added products made from granite dust.
“A lot of dust is generated while processing and polishing granite slabs in the machines. We will produce granite bricks from this dust, said Santosh Kumar Bebarta, the president of the Ganjam Granite Cluster Association.
It may be noted the granite industry in the state is valued at over Rs 100 crore.
The brick unit, costing around Rs 70-lakh, would be set up here to make the blocks and bricks and the production is expected to start from July this year, he said. A government run organization, the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar, will provide the state of art technology to manufacture the bricks from granite dust, he said. An awareness programme on ‘Productivity and Quality for granite cluster” was recently held here. It was organised by the National Productivity Council (NPC), Bhubaneswar and sponsored by the Quality Council of India (QCI), New Delhi. There are over 40 granite processing and polishing units in Ganjam district and several more are in the pipeline.