The CBG plant, via organic manure production, will nurture soil fertility.
In a bid to assist handle paddy stubble, the Cabinet of Punjab gave in-principle approval to Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) on Thursday for setting up a compressed biogas (CBG) plant at Rakhra in Patiala, at the web-site of closed cooperative sugar mills. The CBG plant will be created in collaboration with Sugarfed. According to an IE report, paddy straw will be applied by the plant to create biogas thereby checking the menace of the burning of paddy stubble. Also, the CBG plant, via organic manure production, will nurture soil fertility. The selection for the setting up of the CBG plant was taken at a virtual Cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
In order to settle all terms and circumstances, such as the Land Lease Agreement in respect of the land of 25 acres or more region of the sugar mill that is closed, to be offered for setting up the CBG plant to Indian Oil Corporation Limited, the Punjab Cabinet authorized Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. The plant is anticipated to produce each direct and indirect employment possibilities. It will have a production capacity of 30 tonnes CBG, with a capacity of day-to-day feedstock of paddy straw of about 300 tonnes per day. Besides, the plant will also produce organic manure to the tune of about 75,000 tonnes per year.
CBG becoming an eco-friendly fuel, the upcoming CBG plant would assist in minimizing dependency on fossil fuels, and as a result turn out to be an essential contributor to advertising the circular economy, according to the report. The CBG plant will also be lowering stubble burning in fields, thereby containing air pollution in the state of Punjab. Besides, it will assist in augmenting farmers’ savings, as properly as in restoring the fertility of soil and carbon content.
At a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee, which was headed by Randhawa, the Indian Oil Corporation Limited had informed that the project would involve biogas production from rice straw as properly as other biomass at a expense of about Rs 180 crore. The report stated straw from farmers would be procured by the corporation via cooperative societies. After mutual negotiations, the prices for acquire or provide of rice straw would be settled, it added.