To light up streets, govt to produce fuel from waste
Abantika Ghosh | TNN
New Delhi: In a first Delhi government has set up a CNG plant at its secretariat canteen that will produce fuel from waste. The output will be worth Rs 70,000 per month. Also on the anvil — in association with BARC — are similar plants at government hospitals and one 100kg plant at the Ghazipur abbatoir which will be used for streetlighting.
''It will serve the dual purpose of generating eco-friendly fuel and also be a solution for our waste management problems which are considerable. Creation of a dumping ground, apart from being an environmental hazard entails wastage of resources in transporting and disposing of the waste,'' explained chief secretary Rakesh Mehta.
The environment department had earlier written to all hotels and restaurants in the city to give their waste oil which can be made into fuel but it did not generate any response. When officials sat down to analyze the issue, they realized restaurants make quite a packet by selling used oil to small dhabas. ''That is when we decided to attempt something which would be financially beneficial to the restaurants too,'' said an official.
The city government had earlier contacted the Khadi Village Commission for the project but the scale proved to be too much for them. After that entered a Swedish company which made a couple of visits but things did not work out. ''Finally Bhabha Atomic Research Centre stepped in and they are the ones who are doing it now. There have been similar projects in Mumbai and Pune and some hotels have expressed a keenness. The plant in our canteen should be ready in the next two-three months after which we will also invite hotels for a demonstration. We hope to get them interested,'' Mehta added.
The government is hoping to get housing societies interested too. While the plant may not be viable for individual house owners, a group of people pooling together resources — and kitchen waste — to set up a similar plant in their premises may be the best solution to rising LPG costs and a worsening power situation. ''The biogas may be used in generator too,'' Mehta said.
The scale of operations for the abbatoir plant is still not clear as the project is on the drawing board. But if even a part of the power consumption for streetlighting is met, Delhi may become the first city in the country to have such an ecofriendly setup in place.
