Rajasthan’s red stone to adorn Central Vista revamp

After pink stone for the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Rajasthan will now provide its famous red stone from the Barmer-Jaisalmer region for the Central Vista, local government officials said.

The Lakha red granite of the state will be used in the construction of the iconic Central Vista project. The project envisages constructing a new Parliament House, a new residential complex that will house the Prime Minister and the vice president, as well as new office buildings to accommodate ministry offices.

Named after Lakha village, the red granite is found on the border of Jaisalmer and Barmer districts will be utilized in the construction of flooring, walkways, and pillars in the Central Vista . The sourcing has been going on for the past two months and thus far 55,000 cubic meters of stone have been sold.

Lakha red granite is coveted for its unique red shade. It has a smooth texture and waves of multi-coloured microparticles on the red make this stone very eye-catching.

Bhagwan Singh Bhati, an engineer with the state’s mining department in Jaisalmer said that Lakha red granite is famous for its colour. It is also exported to many other countries, he added.

A major supplier of this stone, Kamal Singh Kohra, claimed that his firm, The Kohra Lakha Red Granite, is supplying around 80% of the total demand.

Singh said that so far he has supplied around 600 trucks of stone which will be used in the construction of one lakh feet area. “Before transporting, the raw stone is processed here,” he said.

Another mine owner, Shaukat Ali, said Lakha is a rare and high quality stone which is found only in the region Lakha. “This reddish granite is not available anywhere else in the world.”

Ali added that the same stone was used in the National War Memorial near India Gate in New Delhi; his firm supplied granite that now covers 300,000 square feet at the War Memorial, he added.

“It is an export quality stone and mostly used outside India. It is in high demand outside India in countries such as UAD, Turkistan, China, and Istanbul. In view of this many local mine owners have opened their branch in these countries,” said Manoj Gujar, a mine owner in Lakha.

Pink sandstone from Banshi Paharpur in Bharatpur district in Rajasthan is being used in the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Recently, the Central government allowed the conversion of forest land into revenue land so that Rajasthan government can auction mines in Banshi Paharpur.