To acquaint the CBG/Biogas industry regarding the key initiatives taken by the Government of India for expanding the implementation of GOBARdhan initiative in the CBG sector, a workshop on GOBARdhan was organised by Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation (DDWS), (nodal coordinating Dept. for GOBARdhan) via VC on 17.08.2023. The virtual workshop was attended by critical stakeholders including senior officials from 7 Ministries/Depts. Of the Government of India, State level officials viz. SATAT Nodal Officers, State Mission Director (SBM-G), CBG plant operators, project developers etc. The VC was chaired by Joint Secretary, DDWS & Mission Director. Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin, Sh. Jitendra Srivastava and the agenda items comprised CBG offtake arrangements, Fermented Organic Manure (FOM), carbon credits, incentives, investment, and financing for the CBG industry.
In his opening remarks, Sh. Jitendra Srivastava, applauded the entrepreneurs/CBG operators for their efforts and reiterated that the Government is committed to extend all forms of assistance required to establish an enabling CBG/Biogas ecosystem in the country. He added that upcoming policy enablers would further bolster the implementation scale and speed of the GOBARdhan initiative by creating greater awareness, enthusiasm, and conducive policy space for the CBG sector.
The key stakeholders spoke about their different activities supporting GOBARdhan implementation. Sh. Dinesh Jagdale, Joint Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, briefed the participants on the modalities of CFA (Central Financial Assistance) release; Dr. Yogita Rana, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, spoke about FCO (Fertilizer Control Order) related to FOM/LFOM; Sh. Anand Jha, Director, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas apprised the participants of CBG offtake arrangement under SATAT scheme of MoPNG and of related upcoming policy initiatives; Dr. Satyendra Kumar, Director, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change elaborated on the policy on carbon credits for CBG sector; Sh. Manoj Kumar, Deputy Secretary, Department of Fertilizers, provided a gist of Market Development Assistance (MDA) scheme to organic fertilizer including FOM/PROM; Sh. A.N. Meshram, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Agriculture & Famers Welfare informed about the newly launched Operational Guidelines for Crop Residue Management under SMAM (Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization) Scheme; Dr. A. Velmurugan, ADG, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, talked about the package of practices and nutrient enrichment of bio-slurry and Sh. Samrat Sengupta, Eki Energy Services Ltd. discussed operational aspects of the carbon credit trading mechanism.
The presentations were followed by an engaging interaction of stakeholders with CBG operators on GOBARdhan and on-ground challenges faced during plant operation. The response to the virtual workshop was very enthusiastic and positive, as the participants appreciated the latest information on GOBARdhan received from all experts & stakeholders via a single platform as well as the resolution of GOBARdhan initiative related queries.
The workshop concluded with closing remarks of Director (SBM-G), DDWS, Sh. Karanjit Singh, who thanked the participants for their active participation. He assured of conducting similar workshops in the near future towards encouraging participation and information sharing to existing and prospective investors/project developers in the Biogas/CBG ecosystem.
Government of India is invested in accelerating nation’s reliance on renewable energy to fuel the green energy transition and to implement the concept of circular economy at scale. GOBARdhan “Waste to Wealth” initiative has a pivotal role to play in this direction. This inter-ministerial initiative is aimed at generating value from waste by scientifically treating organic/biodegradable waste to produce biogas/Compress Natural Gas (CBG) and organic manure (Fermented Organic Manure/Liquid Fermented Organic Manure).
A unified GOBARdhan Portal has been launched for reporting & monitoring the progress/achievements of stakeholder Ministries/Departments. The Portal captures the details of Biogas/ Bio-CNG/CBG plants installed/supported under SBM(G) of DDWS, Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) scheme of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), Waste to Energy scheme of Ministry of New and Renewal Energy (MNRE) among other activities of all stakeholders. As on date nearly 1400 plants have been registered on the Unified Registration Portal and there are 630 Completed/Functional GOBARdhan Plants.
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