Rs 600-crore bio-ethanol plant to tackle burning of stubble

Varinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 25

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal laid the foundation stone of the Rs 600-crore bio-ethanol plant to be set up in Tarakhanavala village, along with his wife and Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Badal and Executive Director of Hindustan Petroleum Anil Pandey. 

Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan interacted with people via a video conference. He said bio-ethanol plants would not only check pollution from North India but would also help farmers in increasing their income as these plants would run on stubble to be purchased from them by the plant managements. 

Pandey said it would be the first bio-ethanol plant in the state and it would help people of the Malwa region in many ways. 

Sukhbir said the plant would offer a huge potential for farmers as they would now be able to sell their paddy stubble which, they were forced to burn in their fields. “With such facilities, Punjab will become a pollution-free state,” he claimed, while underlining the achievements of the SAD-BJP combine government during its 10-year rule in the state.

He said during its “third tenure”, the government would set up five million homes for the homeless.

Union Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal said, “As the fuel from here would be consumed by vehicles, a lot of farm manure would be spared and it could be used for increasing the fertility of the soil,” she said.

The plant would consume a minimum of 400 tonnes of paddy straw daily for producing 100 kilolitres of ethanol. It would be enough to meet at least 26 per cent of the total ethanol requirements of the state. The project, which would generate employment for 1,200-1,300 people of the area, would create additional annual revenue of Rs 19-20 crore for farmers.