Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (19 February) inaugurated Asia’s biggest municipal solid waste based bio-CNG plant, called Gobar-Dhan, in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore through video-conferencing.
Addressing the event, PM Modi said that initiative of the bio-CNG plant is very important as the wet waste released from houses, animals and farms in villages are “in a way Gobar Dhan”.
“In the coming two years, work is being done to build such Gobar-Dhan Bio-CNG plants in 75 major municipal bodies of the country. This campaign will go a long way in making India’s cities clean, pollution-free, clean energy,” PM Modi said, reports Hindustan Times.
PM Modi recently launched the Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0, with the overall vision of creating “Garbage Free Cities”. The mission is being implemented under the overarching principles of “waste to wealth”, and “circular economy” for maximising resource recovery – both of which are exemplified in the Indore Bio-CNG plant, a PMO release said on Friday (18 February).
The plant has a capacity to treat 550 tonnes per day of segregated wet organic waste. It is expected to produce around 17,000 kg per day of CNG, and 100 tonnes per day of organic compost, according to the PMO release.
The plant is based on zero landfill models, whereby no rejects would be generated. Additionally, the project is expected to yield multiple environmental benefits, such as reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, providing green energy along with organic compost as fertiliser, the release added.
Indore Clean Energy Pvt Ltd, a Special Purpose Vehicle created to implement the project, was set up by Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) and Indo Enviro Integrated Solutions Ltd (IEISL) under a Public Private Partnership model, with 100 per cent capital investment of Rs 150 crore by IEISL.
Indore Municipal Corporation will purchase a minimum 50 per cent of CNG produced by the plant and in a first-of-its kind initiative, run 400 city buses on the CNG.
The Indore Municipal Corporation has claimed that the Gobar Dhan plant will be be the largest such Bio-CNG plant in Asia.
The balance quantity of CNG will be sold in the open market. The organic compost will help replace chemical fertilisers for agricultural and horticultural purposes.