Punjab government, Gramin Vikas Trust signs MoU for establishing biogas pellets plants

NEW DELHI,OCT.12: In another move aimed at going further in establishing the biogas pellets plants, the Gramin Vikas Trust entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Punjab government expressing commitment to work together.

Under this agreement, both signatories would work to establish biomass pellet plants and also for farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) on the principles of reciprocity and cooperation.

The agreement was signed between Sarvjit Singh, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Punjab and Shailesh Kotru of the Gramin Vikas Trust.

Sharing details with The New Indian Express, Princy Gupta, the project manager at Gramin Vikas Trust, said that both sides have acknowledged that the agreement is an important step toward enabling the Punjab government to control biomass burning and lessen the resulting air pollution.

“Gramin Vikas Trust lauded the Punjab government’s desire to learn and reinvent governing in order to promote growth and development”, she said, adding that the MoU was signed upon recognising the necessity for a methodical, balanced shift in the administrative approach to handling stubble burning and underlining the mutually beneficial cooperation.

Quoting details, she further added that the officials of both sides are of the opinion that working together to manage stubble and reduce pollution will benefit both parties.

Gupta said that the parties will work together on multiple priorities, including steps like Farmer Producer Organizations and Farmer Cooperatives.

“A multi-pronged approach will be used to free the villages of the practice of stubble burning through field action, behaviour change communication, mass awareness, research, and knowledge management”, she added from the agreement.

The Gramin Vikas Trust will also actively advocate for policy development on stubble management.

Under the terms of this MoU, the parties will keep cooperating through the exchange of information and documentation, visits by experts, delegations, and scholars, visits by officials and ministers, and collaborative and joint initiatives.

“We’re working on putting ex-situ measures in place that will also incentivize parali extraction from the fields”, she said, adding that the Ministry of Power (MOP) has advised that all fluidized bed TPPs were directed to issue enough tenders to cover the 5% requirement of biomass with special emphasis on plants located in Punjab and Haryana in its policy, dated 17 November 2017.

Additionally, it was mandated that power utilities take efforts to swiftly conclude the tendering process for current contracts.

“Our management strategy largely relies on Farmer Producer Organizations for the production of biomass pellets. By selling the pellets to these TPPs, Farmers will be able to profit from the sale of their stubble, receive a better price, and the FPO will become self-sufficient”, she claimed.

The senior business lead of Gramin Vikas Trust, Shailesh Kotru also expressed optimism about the course of events while also being wary of the pollution that Parali may cause.

According to him, the Gramin Vikas Trust will use its knowledge to build a self-sustaining ecosystem in which farmers may profit from biomass while also helping to reduce pollution. He added that the Gramin Vikas Trust would also begin an extensive grassroots awareness campaign in Punjab for the cause.

-TNIE