Subsidy for setting up biogas plants

Tribune News Service

Moga, January 10

The Punjab government has decided to provide subsidy of Rs 24 lakh, through the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA), to at least 200 farmers for installing biogas plants in rural areas of the district by the end of this fiscal.

Sandeep Hans, District Magistrate, claimed that farmers were coming forward to install biogas plants in rural areas to replace liquid petroleum gas (LPG) with biogas, which is cheaper.

More than 300 biogas plants were already functioning in the district and at least 200 would be constructed in the next few months. PEDA is promoting biogas plants in villages by offering subsidy on the unit cost.

A unit holder, who was usually a farmer or a dairy owner, got back the invested money within two years of the commencement of the plant, he said.

The DM said a subsidy of Rs 12,000 was being given by the government for the installation of a biogas plant to all categories of the people. Earlier, the general category people used to get Rs 9,000 subsidy, while the Backward and Scheduled Castes people used to get Rs 11,000 subsidy per unit.

He said during the current fiscal, the government had also decided to give Rs 2,500 to local self-employed youth workers.