Bengaluru: Biogas relieves villagers from LPG cylinder worries

Belagavi: At a time when domestic LPG cylinder users are worried about getting a refill due to the raging war in West Asia, people residing in the villages under Bambarga Gram Panchayat in the taluk are a relieved lot.

Biogas units installed in the village about three decades ago are generating the fuel required for them. This has made them self-sufficient in these troubled times. 

Bambarga Gram Panchayat covers Bambarga, Kattanbhavi, Gugranatti, Godihal, Hosur, Goramatti, Ningenatti, old-Idalhond and new-Idalhond (rehabilitation of Hidkal Dam project affected) villages.

Till the 1990s, residents of these villages were using firewood for cooking. They were getting the trees on the surrounding hillocks felled to meet their needs. It had also posed a threat to the environment.

Environmentalist Shivaji Kaganikar came to Kattanbhavi village in 1990 to conduct night school for dropouts and adults and kindergarten classes. While residing in the village, he came across the felling of trees on the hillock and being used as firewood.

Through Jana Jagaana Samsthe, he created awareness among the people to use biogas as fuel and save the forest. As most of the villages had livestock and dung could be used as a source for biogas and slurry could be used as manure, he told them.

Kaganikar said he used his personal rapport with the villagers and was successful in making the villagers set up biogas units in their backyards. More than 80 per cent houses at Kattanbhavi have biogas units.

Later, the villages in the surroundings followed suit. Now, biogas has made the households self-sufficient in cooking fuel, along with them getting manure too.

Renuka Kumanache, a resident of Bambarga, said, “We got the biogas unit installed in our house 15 years ago. It has been meeting the fuel needs of our house. Domestic LPG cylinders were an alternate fuel source for us.” 

Gram Panchayat former member Mahadevi Mangutkar said the biogas unit was installed at her house 35 years ago and is still functional.

“Earlier, we had a big, undivided family and never fell short of cooking fuel. Slurry is used as manure in our agricultural lands,” she added. 

Panchayat Development Officer Sunita Patil said, “Since assuming charge, I have not come across demand for LPG cylinders in our jurisdiction. More than half of the houses have functional biogas units.”

Gram Panchayat Secretary C K Talkwar said the Gram Panchayat’s jurisdiction is spread across nine villages and the population is 6,990.

“Among the 1,679 households, 893 have installed biogas plants. They have domestic LPG cylinders as an alternate fuel source to meet needs during emergencies, hence they are not affected even due to a shortage of domestic LPG cylinders,” explained. 

Environmentalist Dileep Kamat said, “Khadi and Gramodyog Industries Corporation has encouraged biogas plants. Kaganikar, too, received the training. Belagavi district today has the highest number of working biogas plants. Livestock here has ensured dung availability and slurry is being used as manure.”