Kerala - Kochi   

Thrikkakkara plans biogas plants

KOCHI: Thrikkakkara panchayat plans to expand the scope of decentralised solid waste treatment system, as part of which it would set up two to three biogas plants at selected areas during the 2008-’09 fiscal.

Increased thrust will be given to decentralised waste treatment for which the panchayat has set apart Rs.1 crore in this year’s budget, panchayat president Sabitha Kareem said.

Kakkanad and adjoining areas have become a hub of Information Technology and related fields, commercial establishments and a preferred residential location. There has been a proliferation in the number of flats in the area. All this has contributed to a manifold increase in waste generation within the limits of Thrikkakkara panchayat and hence the renewed thrust on decentralised solid waste management.

Ms. Kareem said that the panchayat possess the land for setting up biogas plants but had not been able to make progress owing to the opposition of the people.

Besides, a couple of interested parties have come forward to donate land. Markets and residential areas can be chosen for setting up these plants, she said. Such a plant was already operating at the Thrikkakkara market.

The plants will be set up at a cost of Rs.10.3 lakh each, shared between the district panchayat (Rs.6 lakh) and beneficiary panchayat (Rs.3.10 lakh). The Central subsidy of Rs.1.20 lakh will be made available through the Thiruvananthapuram-based Biotech.

Besides these relatively large plants, the panchayat aims to set up biogas units in individual households. The target is to cover at least 600 households this year, Ms. Kareem said.

Beneficiaries need to contribute only a certain percentage of the total cost, as assistance from the panchayat and Biotech, would be made available.

Ms. Kareem said that the panchayat will strictly implement during this fiscal the condition that plans for construction of flats should be approved only if they made provisions for solid waste treatment. Builders have been intimated about this and have been asked to comply with the provision, she said.

The problem, she said, was that the plans when presented for the approval of the panchayat would have provisions for solid waste treatment, but was completely ignored once the approval was secured.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Celebrating Sambalpuri culture
Gem and jewellery exports lend shine to Cochin SEZ
Film festival drawing crowds
Law reforms commission prepares five draft bills
Court directive to consider pensioners’ plea
Thrikkakkara plans biogas plants
German warships in Kochi
Maritime day fete ends
Lawyer arrested
Kochi Today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu