Inter- Ministerial meeting held in Delhi to review Parali management

Tags: place in news National Government Schemes

With the onset of the harvesting season for Kharif crops an Inter-Ministerial meeting under the co-chairmanship of Union Minister of Power R.K Singh and Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change Bhupender Yadav, was held on 3 October 2022, in New Delhi to review the progress of biomass co-firing in thermal power plants along with Parali management in National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining states.

The meeting was also attended by Chief Secretaries of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh along with senior officers. 

Background to the meeting 

Farmers in Haryana, Punjab and Western Uttar Pradesh burn their Parali in order to clear their harvested paddy fields and prepare for the Rabi season. 

This burning of fields usually leads to heavy air pollution and toxic air in and around NCR during the winter season. 

The meeting was held to take stock of the situation and the preparedness of the concerned government.

To encourage the farmers not to burn the parali and provide them an incentive, the government of India launched the SAMARTH mission. 

Sustainable Agrarian Mission on use of Agro Residue in Thermal Power Plants (SAMARTH) 

Sustainable Agrarian Mission on use of Agro Residue in Thermal Power Plants (SAMARTH) was launched by the Government of India in 2021.

Under SAMARTH the Union Ministry of power launched the National Mission on Use of Biomass in coal based thermal Power Plants.

AIM of the Scheme :

•  It was launched by the Government of India to reduce stubble (parali) burning and to reduce carbon footprint of Thermal Power Plants while increasing the income of farmers.
• The farmers are encouraged to sell their crop residues, stubble to the power plants and earn extra income instead of burning in the field which increases pollution.
• Thermal power plants are encouraged to use crop residue along with coal for production of power.  It will reduce the use of coal for power generation and consequently lesser amounts of carbon will be produced.
• The Ministry of Power's policy on “Biomass Utilization for Power Generation through Co-firing in Coal based Power Plants” issued in October 2021 mandates all thermal power plants in the country to use 5 to 10% biomass along with coal for power production.

Present Status of the SAMARTH mission  

• Giving the achievement of the SAMARTH mission the government said that at present 39 thermal power plants had co-fired biomass pellets.
• In the NCR region, 10 thermal power plants have started co-firing. 
• As on date, 83066 MT of biomass has been co-fired in 39 thermal power plants across the country totalling to a capacity of 55390 MW. 
• In the NCR region, the biomass co-fired is 22,696 MT out of which 95% has been done by NTPC.