Guwahati: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the first-ever compressed biogas plant project in North East India at Domora Pathar in Sonapur under the Kamrup (Metropolitan) district.
Businessmen Pankaj Gogoi and Rakesh Doley are establishing the facility under the name Redlemon Technologies Private Limited. The plant will begin operations in November 2023. It would be able to produce five tonnes of compressed biogas per day using waste products including municipal solid waste and animal manure as its primary raw materials.
Speaking at the occasion, CM Sarma underlined optimism that the compressed biogas plant at Sonapur will significantly help the Assam government’s goal of a gradual transition to cleaner and greener energy. The compressed biogas facilities, like the one being developed in Sonapur, would not only help with municipal solid waste management issues, but they would also give farmers another source of income because they would be able to sell livestock dung to the biogas producers.
He also expressed the expectation that the organic fertilisers, which would be created as a byproduct of methane in such compressed biogas facilities, would offer a safer substitute for the chemical fertilisers currently used throughout the State. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pledges to reduce India’s carbon emissions on international stages like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Chief Minister Sarma said Assam, like the other States, would do everything in its power to ensure that the nation is able to keep its commitments made on mitigating the effects of global warming.
CM Sarma stated his satisfaction over entrepreneurs’ willingness to plunge into new industries like those of biofuel and biogas production in addition to promising full government support to anyone wishing to enter the biofuel/biogas production industry.
Together with CM Sarma, other invited visitors and dignitaries included Chief Executive of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council Tuliram Ronghang, Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the Dispur Assembly Seat Atul Bora, and Lakhimpur MLA Manab Deka.