District Administration expands capacity for crop residue consumption in industries

Gearing up for the consumption of crop residue through specially designed boilers in industries, the district administration of Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar has started exercises to add more capacity, increasing it to four lakh MT per annum.

Divulging details, the Deputy Commissioner, Aashika Jain, stated that the district produces its own crop residue, amounting to 1.98 lakh MT per annum. However, the administration is considering collaboration with nearby districts as well. With the proposed addition of 3 lakh metric tonnes by the upcoming Paddy Harvesting Season, the district aims to utilize more crop residue (paddy stubble) as biofuel, added Mrs. Jain.

Reviewing the existing capacity, which includes five units contributing to one lakh metric tonnes per annum, two more stakeholders, Chandigarh Distilleries and Nahar Industries, are working on installing paddy stubble fuel-based boilers. This will increase the overall capacity to four lakh MT per annum in the district, said DC Jain.

In addition, a new unit with a capacity of 3300 MT per annum is upcoming in the district to supply stubble-based pellets to Brick Kilns, as mentioned by the Deputy Commissioner.
She also highlighted the need to address the shortage of bailers in accordance with the final capacity of the boiler units. The district will seek a supply of an appropriate number of bailer machines. The Agricultural and Farmers’ Welfare Department and ADC (Rural Development) have been tasked with preparing the estimated number of bailers needed for the upcoming paddy season. Although the agricultural area in the district is smaller compared to other districts, our consumption capacity is higher in the state. Therefore, the focus should be on arranging the requisite machinery in a timely manner.

Assuring industrial representatives involved in the installation of stubble-based boilers, the Deputy Commissioner mentioned that the District administration is already in the process of arranging land banks for the storage of stubble stock, besides ensuring the early disposal of subsidies announced by the state to promote stubble-based boilers in industries.

Furthermore, the Deputy Commissioner stated that she will be visiting villages with the highest cases of burning stubble to investigate the reasons behind it. Additionally, she plans to encourage villages with zero burning cases in the coming days.

The officers who attended the meeting included ADC (Rural Development) Sonam Chaudhary, AC (Under Training) Davy Goyal, DDPO Amaninder Pal Singh Chauhan, DR Cooperatives Gurbir Singh Dhillon, Executive Engineer PPCB Gursharan Dass, and District Food and Supplies Controller Dr. Navreet Kaur, along with industrial representatives.”