Jalandhar: Young technocrat shows way in paddy straw management

Deepkamal Kaur

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Jalandhar, October 23

For the past few years, Kakar Kalan village of Shahkot has not burnt its paddy straw. Reason: There is a board mill in the village that consumes almost the entire straw left in the fields of this village.

Set up by 35-year-old Bir Anmol Singh, who is a postgraduate in computer sciences and has studied the issue of paddy management, the board mill has been set up in nearly 2 acres of land here at a cost of Rs 20 lakh. It uses about 300 tonnes of paddy straw per annum taken from nearly 100 acres of land. In addition to the straw, it also uses paper mill waste pulp and old jute bags as the raw material to churn out board used in making packing boxes of sweets and covers of the school copies and books.

To bring down the running cost of the mill, Bir Anmol has even got installed a solar panel. “My power bill used to be nearly Rs 1 lakh a month earlier, which has now got cut down to Rs 60,000 per month after the installation of the solar panel,” he added.

The young technocrat said: “We are also providing baler machine to the farmers in the village for procuring the paddy straw. This is helping them cut down on the cost of making their field after the crop. While earlier, they ended up spending Rs 3000-4000 per acre on using baler, loading and transportation costs for straw management, we are helping them do it for just Rs 800 per acre as we are taking minimal cost incurred on fuel for the baler.”

According to estimates, there are about 100-150 board mills in Punjab, most of which have started using paddy straw as the raw material. In Doaba, there are quite a few board mills including those at Nahlan village of Jalandhar, Kala Sanghian in Kapurthala, Gelan village of Shahkot, Kot Fatuhi village of Garhshankar where paddy straw is being put to use as the main raw material.

Board mill comes to the rescue

• There is a board mill in the village, set up at the cost of Rs 20L, which consumes almost the entire straw left in the fields of this village
• It uses about 300 tonnes of paddy straw per annum taken from nearly 100 acres of land to churn out board used in making packing boxes of sweets and covers of the school copies and books

Providing machines to farmers

We are also providing baler machine to the farmers in the village for procuring the paddy straw. This is helping them cut down on the cost of making their field after the crop. — Bir Anmol Singh, owner, board mill