Uploaded on 2020-05-07 by Kashish

This image is of Dharamshala town which is near to Palampur City in the state of Himachal Pradesh. As visible in the picture, the terrain of the town is mountainous. Every building in the picture uses reinforced concrete as the basic material of construction. Whereas the material of construction available locally is "Khaprail Tiles" which are produced from the local stone available in the mountains. The limitation of using Khaprail Tile is its inability to be used in multiple storey structures. Due to the limited land, the owners have shifted to the foreign material of steel and cement so that they can have more covered area in a small piece of land. They have to import these materials and the cost of transportation is very high in this region. Khaprail Tiles were also suitable to the harsh weather codiditions but with RCC construction, people have to rely on HVAC services which has led to the increase in overall consumption of electricity. All these factors which are very unsustainable have led to the economic inflanation in the town. The local vendors who were earlier into the business of Khaprail Tiles have to shut their businesses as well.