Finally, work has begun to restore operations at the compressed biogas (CBG) plant here in Ludhiana district.
It was made possible after the villagers ended their four-month-old sit-in in front of the plant following the intervention of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Mann has assured the protesting villagers that the plant would be completely pollution-free and will run as a green project while complying with the laid-down norms.
Accepting the CM’s assurance, the villagers decided to end their four-month-old protest and allowed the plant to resume operations.
The development assumes significance as the plant will be used to process paddy straw that will be generated during the ongoing kharif harvesting season.
A visit to the plant this morning revealed that the villagers had lifted their dharna and the press mud dumped on the plant premises was being cleared to resume operations with paddy straw, cattle dung and Napier grass.
“The plant will apply afresh for consent to operate following which the environmental bodies will visit the site and issue the same for resumption of operations,” a senior officer told The Tribune.
The CBG plant, which was set up by Farm Gas Private Limited, had started operations here in 2022. It was a green category project as it was supposed to use only paddy straw, cattle dung and Napier grass but during operations, it was found that the plant had started using press mud as one of the feedstocks, which started emanating foul smell in the village and nearby areas.
Up in arms against what they called environmental pollution, the villagers launched an agitation and sat on indefinite dharna in front of the plant in May, forcing the closure of the plant.
The agitation forced the withdrawal of consent to operate leading to the suspension of plant operations.
Ahead of the paddy harvesting season, the state government held multiple rounds of meetings with the members of the coordination committee formed by the protesters and the village elders through the district administration at the initial stage and later arranged the interactions with experts in various fields including agriculture, oncology, chemical engineering and others in order to alleviate the pollution concerns of the villagers.
Last month, the government also formed a Group of Ministers to hold talks with the protesters but two rounds of meetings between them failed to pacify the villagers.
On October 1, the CM himself dialled the villagers and assured them that the plant would run as per the laid-down norms and would not cause any pollution.
