Lucknow, Jan 24 : The Yogi Adityanath government will now be paying money for the agricultural wastes of the farmers. This is a part of the government’s commitment to double the income of farmers in Uttar Pradesh.
Besides providing a solution to stubble burning, this will also assist in protecting the environment.
According to a government spokesman, the chief minister had directed the department of agriculture to increase the income of the farmers and also to reduce their cost and on his initiative, a bio-coal production unit has been set up in Risia in Bahraich district.
The trial of the fuel briquette pellets, manufactured from agro waste, has also been completed in the plant and agricultural wastes like paddy straw, corn stalks and sugarcane leaves are being bought at Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 per quintal from the farmers of the region. About 10,000 quintals have been also been bought from the farmers so far.
The unit has also received an order for pellet supply of 1,000 tonnes per day by Unchahar unit of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).
This unit has also provided direct and indirect employment to over a 100 people and at the same time, the farmers are getting extra income for their agriculture residue.
Agriculture Produce Commissioner Alok Sinha said that it is just a small effort to increase the income of the farmers.
“This, however, will be a major relief for the problem of stubble burning and management of agriculture residue. We are motivating others to set up such units in the state for manufacturing pellets from agriculture residue,” Sinha said.
This is the first plant in the state which is making fuel briquettes from agriculture residue and the trial of the plant has just been completed.
Ram Ratan Agrawal, managing director of the Vipul Industries, said “The cost of setting up the plant was around Rs 3.10 crore. The trial has also been completed by sending 106 quintals of fuel briquette pellets to the NTPC for producing electricity. The state government has also given an exemption of 2.5 per cent on GST for 10 years and 25 per cent grant on capital cost will also be provided by the government.”
Agrawal said that from the beginning of the unit itself, we are getting more and more orders from the boilers due to which, the unit is proposed to be expanded within two months.
Agarwal, who is also the director of Biomass Briquette Association, said that there are about 200 units in the state which are making briquettes from factory wastes that are being used in brick kilns.
“But this product cannot be used in boiler and now they are being inspired to make briquettes from agricultural residue,” he added.
The spokesman said that two proposals from Shahjahanpur and one each from Pilibhit, Faizabad, Basti and Gorakhpur have been received to set up similar plants and training is being imparted as to how to manufacture pellets from agricultural residue as this causes no harm if these are mixed with coal.
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from IANS service.