Bowenpally catches Modi’s eye
PM cites veg mart to promote power from waste
Employees, workers and vegetable vendors of the Bowenpally vegetable market were on cloud nine on Sunday after they heard Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak about them.
In his first broadcast of the year, through ‘Mann ki Baat’, Modi was all praise for the efforts made by officials at the market yard. The innovative practice takes vegetable waste and converts it into biogas through a plant established on the premises.
“We have a waste-to-energy plant, which has a capacity of 10 tonnes. Our market yard generates close to four or five tonnes of vegetable waste a day. So to meet our target of ten tonnes, we get waste from other nearby fruit markets and supermarkets,” L. Srinivas, selection grade secretary, AMC Bowenpally, said.
The energy generated from waste is close to between 250 to 400 units of electricity. This energy is used to run offices, coldroom, lighting in the market, among other spaces.
“Vegetable waste generates electricity for us. We supply it to our market yard, among other places. We earlier had a power bill run-up to `3 lakh to `3.5 lakh per month. Now, using the new power, we have cut our electricity spend to `1 lakh per month,” he said.
However, it wasn’t just powering the market yard that was a priority. Over the last fortnight, officials have also begun generating biogas from the waste. “We have generated 600-odd kgs of gas, which is being supplied to a canteen for hamalis, vendors and other staffers of our yard,” he said.
While they were unsure of the source of fuel for the canteen, hamalis say they are happy that the gas for the canteen helps cook their food. “We don’t know much about electricity. It is good to know that vegetables we consider useless are being put to use,” said Karunaker, a hamali of the market.
This project was a joint collaboration between the department of biotechnology and the state government. It was designed by IICT and executed by Ahuja Engineering.