Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the Govardhan project in Indore, India’s largest Bio-CNG plant that will run on the principle of waste to wealth.
The plant, set up on 15 acres of land in Devguradiya through a public-private partnership, is expected to produce 17,000 tonnes of biogas in a day from 550 tonnes of organic household waste such as fruit and vegetable peels and leaves generated in Indore city. The biogas will help operate 400 city buses every day from May.
Work is now being done on similar projects across the country, Modi said. “In the coming two years, work is being done on setting up such Govardhan Bio-CNG plants in 75 big municipal bodies of the country,” he said.
“There are two ways to tackle any challenge. The first way is to address that challenge immediately. The second is to deal with that challenge in such a way that everyone gets a permanent solution,” the PM said in his virtual address. “The schemes made by our government in the last seven years are supposed to give permanent solutions.”
“Millions of tonnes of garbage have been engulfing thousands of acres of similar land for decades in cities across the country. It is also a major reason for the diseases caused by air and water pollution,” he said. “Therefore, work is being done to deal with this problem in the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission.”
“This plant has been built by a Delhi-based company for ₹150 crore,” said Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Sigh Chouhan, who attended the programme. “In the first phase, 55 CNG buses will start running this month. After this plant, the municipal corporation’s expenditure of ₹100 crore on wet waste disposal will be saved.”
{{/usCountry}}“This plant has been built by a Delhi-based company for ₹150 crore,” said Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Sigh Chouhan, who attended the programme. “In the first phase, 55 CNG buses will start running this month. After this plant, the municipal corporation’s expenditure of ₹100 crore on wet waste disposal will be saved.”
{{/usCountry}}As a result of this initiative, the air quality of Indore will improve to a great extent, which will lead to carbon credits, he said. The municipality stands to earn substantially b y selling the credits in the international market. Additionally, 100kg of organic manure will be produced in the plant, the CM said.
The PM also lauded the efforts of sanitation workers to keep India’s cities clean.