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At a time when people are grappling with the shortage of keroseneand cooking gas not to mention the crippling power cuts, biogasplants should have been the most effective source of fuel forcooking, at least in rural areas. However, two community biogas plants installed by the ThanthaiPeriyar Government Institute of Technology (TPGIT), Vellore, inKattuputhur village panchayat five years ago are in a state ofdisuse. Enquiries with the residents reveal that the plants suffered owingto the lack of proper follow-up by the village panchayat. There isone more contributory factor: the villagers themselves are notdependent on the plants. As most of them are employed ingovernment, defence service or private sector, they have LPGconnections and induction stoves. This throws up the question on the identification of suitablevillage for biogas plant projects. Located in Kaniyambadi panchayat union, the two community biogasplants were set up by the TPGIT in 2007 at a cost of Rs.8 lakhunder the Institute's Service to the Community and Economy scheme,with funds from the World Bank-aided Technical Education QualityImprovement Programme (TEQUIP). The project originally envisaged the supply of cow dung from housesto the plants for the production of methane gas, which, in turn,would fuel stoves in the kitchens. Pipelines were laid from theplants to houses for supply biogas. Another objective was to enable the village panchayat produce vermicompost using the huge volume of dung and improve its income byselling the vermi-compost, which was expected to fetch aboutRs.1000 a day. About 60 houses in the village lit their stoves with biogas fromthese plants. After a few months, the plants became defunct. According to some villagers, the community biogas plants could berevived if only the village panchayat takes sincere steps. K. Viswanathan, former president of the panchayat, during whosetenure the project was implemented, says the project failed becauseof a flaw in the size of pipes used. As only 3/4-inch pipes werelaid from the plants to the houses for supplying the gas, whichresulted in poor flow delaying the cooking. Two-inch pipes shouldhave been provided. He contends there is nothing wrong per se withthe concept of biogas plants. To substantiate his point, he says atleast 20 households have set up individual biogas plants, which areworking. Mr. Viswanathan has not given up the hope of the plants resumingoperations. He is trying to get the services of a Germannon-governmental organisation to help revive the project byrepairing the plants. I am an expert from gift-packagingboxes.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Cardboard Paper Box , Brown Kraft Paper Bag, Brown Kraft Paper Bag,and more.
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