The interviews and reporting for this story were conducted in December 2021.

In the lap of the Himalayas of Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district lies the hamlet of Faldakot Malla, about 35 km away from Rishikesh. Home to a little over 100 residents, the nearest motorable road from the village is a 40-minute trek, offering mountain enthusiasts a scenic escape from the commotion and chaos of metropolitan life.

Among the handful of local accommodations available in the region, a two-bedroom homestay here stands out for being among the country’s very few buildings to have predominantly used industrial hemp-based construction materials. At the Himalayan Hemp Eco Stays, by-products of the cannabis plant are featured not only in its floors, walls and roof but also a few items within its interiors.

Set up by architect couple Namrata Kandwal and Gaurav Dixit, the eco-friendly homestay has been built entirely out of ‘hemp bio aggregate lime concrete’ units. Commonly referred to as hempcrete, these blocks are made out of a mixture of hemp plant shives (branches), a lime binder, fly ash and mineral additives. With its natural composition and weather-resistant properties, hempcrete makes for reliable construction material in the state prone to natural calamities such as earthquakes, flash floods and forest fires.

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“Up until 2018, we used to work with a prominent architectural firm in Delhi. We moved base here to research and promote hemp-based construction components and technology with our startup Gohemp Agroventures, which we began with three other architects,” Namrata tells The Better India.

“Himalayan Hemp Eco Stays is the first hempcrete homestay in India. The idea was to create a purely sustainable building that could serve as a proof of concept of the environmental benefits of using hempcrete. Gaurav and I have worked hard to make it all possible,” she says, adding that the couple used their savings of Rs 30 lakh to construct........

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