Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 13
Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Thursday released CPCB guidelines for the grant of one-time financial support for promoting establishment of paddy straw based pelletisation and torrefaction plants. These plants, once set up, would utilise a sizeable portion of the unmanaged paddy straw and help address the issue of crop residue burning and the resultant air pollution, Yadav said
The guidelines give preference to units proposing to install equipment made in India. Preference is also given to units which have agreement with farmers located in NCT of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana and NCR districts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to ensure assured supply of paddy straw.
“Individuals, entrepreneurs, firms interested in setting up pelletisation and torrefaction plants, using only paddy straw generated in the NCT of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, and NCR districts of Rajasthan and UP can apply for a one-time grant on capital investment,” Yadav said
“Paddy straw burning in Northern regions of India has emerged as one of the major causes of air pollution during winters, especially in Delhi-NCR,” Yadav said, urging farmers to avoid stubble burning and promote its utilisation being a valuable resource and agricultural entrepreneurs to apply for grants under the guidelines.
The government has taken various steps to tackle the issue of stubble burning and a large quantity of paddy straw is now being managed through in-situ and ex-situ management options, he added
Statutory directions have been issued to thermal power plants to co-fire biomass-based pellets, torrefied pellets/briquettes (with focus on paddy straw) with coal (up to 5-10%) and to industries operating in NCR other than GNCT of Delhi to switch over to PNG or biomass fuels during 2022.
These have led to a large demand for biomass-based pellets, though supply is on the lower side due to slow or limited growth of aggregators and suppliers. Thus, CPCB guidelines would bridge a crucial gap in the biomass supply chain, officials said
A maximum grant of Rs 14 lakh per ton/hr for non-torrefied pellet plant and Rs 28 lakh per ton/hr for a torrefied pellet plant is being provided under the guidelines, with an overall cap of Rs 70 lakhs for the former and Rs. 1.4 crore for the latter.
A corpus of Rs 50 crores has been earmarked for utilisation through the guidelines.
Assuming complete utilisation of the corpus, over 1 million metric tonnes of paddy straw-based pellets are expected to be generated every year.
With supplemental efforts by other stakeholders, the guidelines are expected to enhance paddy straw utilization in power plants and industries, catalyse rural economy and further the spirit of entrepreneurship.
The Ministry has also granted 190 Environment Clearances (EC) so far for grain-based ethanol production projects aggregating 34368 KLPD and all these projects have been granted EC in a record time of around 45-50 days, the Minister said.
The first 2G Ethanol Plant in Panipat, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation two months ago, is expected to utilise 2 lakh metric tonnes of paddy straw every year, he said.
