8 months later, GOBAR-Dhan project remains a non-starter

Parveen Arora

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Tribune News Service

Karnal, January 13

Eight months after its launch, the Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan (GOBAR-Dhan) project remains on paper. The proposal for the project has not been sanctioned so far.

The project was launched from Karnal by Union Minister Uma Bharti on April 30 last year. It was launched with the aim of managing dung and other bio-waste for generating energy and increasing farmers’ income.

It was also aimed at encouraging conversion of dung and other biomass in rural areas into electricity, gas and fertiliser and making it a part of the business model. Being an important element of the open-defecation-free-plus strategy, its focus was also on keeping villages clean.

Under this project, biogas was to be provided to 100 households of Kunjpura village to replace the costly liquified petroleum gas (LPG). These households were supposed to supply dung for this project.

The Union government had to provide Rs 20 lakh to the panchayat for gas pipelines, dung collection vehicles and human resources, but funds had not been granted so far.

The authorities had approached young entrepreneurs to provide biogas to households from their factories, but due to non-availability of funds, the authorities had planned to get this project completed through the panchayat.

“The BJP is only a promissory government. It has done nothing in the state in the last four years. The seriousness of the government is evident from the fact that eight months after the launch, the project has not been started so far,” said Sumita Singh, former Congress MLA.

“Wherever Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar goes, he asks about people who do not have LPG connection and directs the authorities to provide the connection. This major project to provide biogas in his district has not commenced,” she said.

She pointed out that if a project at the national level was to start from Karnal, it should have been operational at the time of its launch. Nishant Kumar Yadav, ADC and nodal officer for the project, said they had sent a proposal for the project to the state government and work would start after approval.

“It is an ambitious project of the Union government and we have asked the panchayat to lay pipelines for the supply of biogas to these households,” he stated.