4 Mohali factories to ditch coal, use paddy straw boilers - Hindustan Times
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4 Mohali factories to ditch coal, use paddy straw boilers

By, Mohali
Feb 10, 2023 01:33 AM IST

To control farm fires in the district, PPCB along with local administration has motivated four more factories to switch to boilers which use paddy straw as a fuel and not coal. It will not only curb the stubble burning menace but also benefit industrialists. -- senior PPCB official

While there is only one factory in the district which uses paddy straw as fuel in the boiler instead of coal, four more factories are setting up new boilers based on paddy straw in Mohali.

While there is only one factory in the district which uses paddy straw as fuel in the boiler instead of coal, four more factories are setting up new boilers based on paddy straw in Mohali. (PTI)
While there is only one factory in the district which uses paddy straw as fuel in the boiler instead of coal, four more factories are setting up new boilers based on paddy straw in Mohali. (PTI)

M/s YCD Industries, Lalru, is the only factory here which for the last three years is operating using paddy straw as the fuel.

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According to officials, this factory is using 12,500 tonnes per annum (TPA) paddy straw as a fuel in the boiler.

“To control farm fires in the district, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) along with the local administration has motivated four more factories in the district to switch to boilers which use paddy straw as a fuel and not coal. It will not only curb the stubble burning menace here but also benefit industrialists,” said a senior PPCB official.

He added that while industrialists purchase coal at the price of 20 per kg, they are able to purchase paddy straw at 2 per kg.

“Farmers for now give straw for free as they consider it useless or else, they burn it causing humongous damage to the environment. They will soon start selling it to procurement agencies at much higher price as the industry in the state will largely depend on the straw in the near future. The price of the straw will also rise then,” said the official.

The other four factories that are switching to boilers using straw include M/s Nachhiketa Paper Mill, Dera Bassi, which will have a boiler capacity of 30 TPH and will use 72,000 TPA paddy straw in the boiler.

M/s Windsor Industries, Focal Point Channalon, Kharar, will have a boiler capacity of 8 TPH and will use 15,000 TPA paddy straw in the boiler.

M/sTC Tarrytex, Lalru, will have boiler capacity of 25 TPH and will use 14,400 TPA paddy straw in the boiler, and M/s CDBL, Banur, will have boiler capacity of 85 TPH and will use 2,00,000 TPA paddy straw in the boiler.

With this, a total of 3, 01,400 TPA paddy straw will be utilised in boilers in these four factories.

According to officials here, after commission of aforesaid boilers, paddy straw management will not be an issue for Mohali district and in fact, these industries will consume paddy stubble of neighboring districts too.

Mohali DC Aashika Jain stated that while total agriculture land under paddy cultivation is 30,000 hectares, the paddy straw generation is about 1,50,000 tonnes in the district.

According to officials, a total of 159 paddy straw burning cases were recorded in the paddy season last year across Mohali district in which 88.211 acres area was burnt.

“The farm fires here have reduced from 194 in 2021 to 159 in 2022. We have already identified and enhanced the boiler’s capacity which will consume a lot of paddy straw. Efforts are on to map the critical hot spots of the district to these industries. We will establish a link between farmers and the industry through balers so that the supply chain can be established end to end,” the DC said.

According to official, these factories will install new boilers before the paddy season in September this year.

A meeting was chaired by MM Kutty, chairperson, and Arvin Nautiyal, member secretary, Commission for the Air Quality Management, with the chief secretary, Punjab, and the administrative secretaries of departments of agriculture, power and science technology and environment, chairman, PPCB, and with all DCs of the state for discussion of action plan on paddy crop residue for harvesting season (September-November 2023).

On Tuesday, in view of the upcoming kharif harvesting season in Punjab, state’s chief secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua assured the Commission for Air Quality Management in Delhi that the state will reduce the farm fire instances by 50% compared to 2022 through paddy crop residue management.

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