Chief minister Rekha Gupta on Monday launched a biogas plant with a processing capacity of 200 tonnes per day at Goyla in southwest Delhi’s Najafgarh.
The plant has been built by Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), at a cost of ₹ 16 crore, and is supposed to ensure scientific processing of cattle dung, preventing it from flowing into Yamuna through drains, officials said.
“No biogas plant was set up in Delhi for years, leaving the problem of cow dung management unresolved. “Instead of allowing cow dung to flow into drains, converting it into clean fuel and organic fertiliser demonstrates the effective use of resources. The present government has started work at three biogas plants in the past 18 months, while work is underway to establish six more. Nangli Sakrawati plant had used 55,000 tonnes of cow dung in a year, for which farmers had been paid ₹ 3.5 crore,” she added. Gupta said ₹ 50 crore in the Budget had been allocated to improve drainage systems in Delhi’s dairy colonies. The largest share of the cattle population — 60,210 animals — come from unauthorised dairy colonies, according to the MCD data. Government animal shelters (gausadans)– where captured stray cattle are kept– account for 19,638 cattle, while 20,776 are housed in private gaushalas. The enumeration also records 22,540 cattle in other legal dairies.
At the launch event, CM Gupta said previous governments did not pay enough attention to basic facilities such as drainage system, water supply, garbage collection and cow dung collection in Delhi’s dairy colonies. Cleaning the river alone is not enough, effective action must also be taken against factors that cause pollutants to reach there,” the CM said.
The Goyla plant is expected to generate around 14,000 cubic metres of raw biogas and approximately 5.6 tonnes of purified compressed biogas every day, according to officials. Authorised dairies in Delhi house 123,164 cattle while there are more than 500 unauthorised gaushalas, cumulatively generating around 1,500 tonnes of dung every day, according to MCD estimates. Of this, only about 200 tonnes is being processed, as per a livestock enumeration submitted as part of Yamuna clean-up, being overseen by the Union home ministry.
The gas will be supplied to Indraprastha Gas Limited through a pipeline. The biogas slurry left after processing will be used as an organic fertiliser, helping improve soil fertility.
The initiative will thus convert cow dung into a useful resource, supporting clean energy production, agricultural benefits and efforts to prevent pollution of the Yamuna, officials said.
