Entrepreneurs eye farm waste mgmt as promising industry

27 applications of willing investors received

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“As of now, only six plants are commissioned, though many more applications are pending. These plants are barely using one per cent of the straw generated in the state. If the government addresses this delay in getting clearances, we could see a much better paddy straw management on the ground” — Sanjeev Nagpal, veteran in industrial use of stubble

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 10

For years, stubble burning has been the biggest environmental challenge for policy-makers in Punjab. Despite heavy investment on stubble management machines, the problem has persisted.

This year, though the number of stubble burning incidents have come down (from 79,000 last year to 71,299 this year) and the burnt area has reduced from 17.42 lakh hectare to 14.11 lakh hectare, the reduction is not in consonance with the heavy investment of hundreds of crores that has been made on buying stubble management machinery.

Realising this, some entrepreneurs, who are either into making bio CNG or bio manure from paddy stubble, are now keen to set up new projects in the state. With 20 million tonnes of paddy straw generated in the state annually, these entrepreneurs are eyeing it as a perfect business opportunity. Also, the Government of India’s Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) scheme is keeping them enthused for making compressed bio gas and selling it to the country’s oil marketing companies.

Ashish Kumar, managing director of VERBIO India, the biggest bio fuel plant in the country, that is coming up in Lehragagga, told The Tribune that renewable gas had the potential of emerging as the most promising industrial sector in paddy-growing states like Punjab. “We will go into commercial production in January, though we have already bought 20,000 tonnes of paddy straw this year. Our aim is to buy 1 lakh tonnes of straw per annum and produce 33 tonnes of CNG per day,” he said. By investing Rs 220 crore in the project, which is a 100 per cent foreign direct investment from Germany, this project is being eyed with great global interest in the renewable gas sector. This company is also looking at using sugarcane stubble and wheat stubble.

Sanjeev Nagpal, a veteran in the industrial use of paddy stubble in Punjab, told The Tribune that there had been an inadvertent delay on the part of various departments in giving clearances for setting up the projects — an issue which needed to be addressed both at the central and state levels. He added that these investors had now formed an association and signed a memorandum of understanding with Invest Punjab to remove these glitches.

Information gathered by The Tribune from the state Industries Department reveals that 27 applications of investors willing to go for industrial use of stubble have been received. “It is a great beginning being made in Punjab for scientific stubble management. We have received five applications this month itself and through Invest Punjab, we are trying to expedite the clearances,” said Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Tejveer Singh.