Industry to use pine needle briquettes as fuel

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 16

The Forest Department will shortly set up 25 units for making briquettes out of highly inflammable pine needles which will be sold to the cement industry as an alternate fuel.

The department has prepared the state policy for use of pine needles which will ensure involvement of mahila mandals, panchayati raj bodies, yuvak clubs and voluntary organizations. The company which will provide machinery and equipment will visit Mandi on December 5 next month.

“A Faridabad-based company is providing the machinery as per the design and technology prepared by IIT Mandi experts. The entire expenditure on setting up one unit will cost anywhere between Rs 5 and Rs 10 lakh,” Ram Subhag Singh, Additional Chief Secretary (Forest and Tourism).

He said the use of pine needles and lantana for making briquettes will serve the town purpose of reducing forest fires and at the same time providing livelihood avenues to the women and self help groups.

The Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) have already been asked to identify the sites where the units have to be set up. Pine forest belts will have more units than areas where there incidence of forest fires is less. DFO, Mandi, has been appointed as the Nodal Officer for the procurement of the units. The task of setting up these units will be entrusted to entrepreneurs who will be provided a subsidy of 50 per cent of the capital cost. The Forest Department will help in the collection and transportation of pine needles by providing funds from the Forest Fire Protection scheme fund.

The Department of Environment, Science and Technology has already made it mandatory for cement units to substitute at least one per cent of the existing fuel consumption through biomass and combustible solid mass, which includes pine and lantana briquette. Forests worth lakhs are destroyed every year in fires across the state. The highest concentration of pine forests are found in Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, Solan and Sirmaur districts.