For people in at least three villages of Bihar’s Nalandadistrict, the centre’s decision to put a cap on the number of subsidised LPGcylinders per household could well be a debate gathering much heat overnothing. In Saril Chak, Raitar, Kalyan Bigha villages, many people have of latestopped buying LPG cylinders, which come from outside. It’s the eco-friendlybiogas ” or green “gobar gas”, as the villagers call it ” that is fuelling anew dream for people in these villages, selected as model villages for thebiogas project. Besides producing cooking gas, the biogas plant is also helpfulfor their farms, as the gas-less cow dung is a key element in producingvermi-compost with the help of earthworm, which is used as organic manure.
“We are a family of 10 and had to buy on an average two LPGcylinders per month. But now we don’t need any, thanks to the biogas plant,”said Surendra Prasad, a farmer from Saril Chak village and the first person inhis village, as well as the whole of Nalanda, to use and own a biogas tank.According to Raj Kumar Prasad of the same village, there were eight biogasplants in Saril Chak till recently. But the number has gone up to 30 now,catering to approximately 2,000 people. What’s more, 20 more units are there inpipeline. “Most villagers are dependent on biogas for fuel now and we will betotally self-dependent in terms of fuel very soon,” Raj Kumar said.
Explaining that their trips to the city to buy LPG cylindersare already history, a group of delighted farmers state that since one biogasunit produces fuel equivalent to three cylinders, the news about the cap on LPGcylinder subsidy is hardly worrying them.
“The success of the biogas plants (in these ‘model’villages) has prompted the administration to arrive at a decision to give abiogas tank to all farmers who apply,” said Kundan Kumar Singh, a subjectmatter specialist in Nalanda who helps out the farmers at the grassroots level.He said the local administration gives 50 percent subsidy on biogas tank underRashtriya Kisan Vikas Yojna (RKVY), the national farmers’ development mission.With one biogas tank coming for `30,000, the farmers are thus given `15,000under RKVY.
“Biogas has changedour farming style. We don’t need to run after chemical fertilisers any more. Thevegetables we grow are much healthier, and are less expensive,” Saril Chakfarmer Rajkumar Prasad said. With most farmers having access to biogas unitswith vermi-compost units, they use cow dung judiciously for energy andfertiliser. Besides the subject matter specialist, who works at the panchayatlevel, farmers’ advisors (or ‘kisan salahkar’, as they are called) at thevillage level work in tandem with farmers to teach them various new techniques.
While the success of biogas is for all to see, there is atwist in the tale. With more and more farmers willing to buy cattle, they areapproaching banks and the animal husbandry department for loans ” and thatisn’t the easiest puzzle to solve, as many have realised over the months.
While the biogas story looks set to end on a happy note, atleast in some Nalanda villages, Kundan Kumar said it wasn’t easy to begin with.“Initially no farmer was ready to believe us. No one was ready to accept that abiogas unit will make them self-reliant in terms of fuel and fertiliser,” hesaid. But starting slowly he, along with the others working on the project, wasable to convince more and more farmers.
With several other villages in line to follow the exampleset by Saril Chak and others, the local administration is hopeful that the dayis not very far when any hike in LPG price will leave the people of Nalandacompletely unaffected.
*In association with Governance Now and ANSA-SAR
