Nagpur taps power from sugar-cane left over
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 24 2012: Nagpur district of Maharastra has won a prominent position in the evolution of rural agro-based industry in India.

Some industrial units in Nagpur are manufacturing sugar from sugar-cane.

Then the left-over crush stems are used in generating 25 MW of power.

The power thus generated is again used in brewing wine and manufacturing bio-diesel.

Finally, the materials left over as residue after manufacturing bio-diesel is used in manufacturing different varieties of fertilizer.

All these processes were witnessed by a media team of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh recently.

These innovative industrial units are being run by the Purti Group under a long term vision of BJP president Nitin Gadkari.

The media team was taken to Nagpur by BJP leaders to show what they were doing for the people of Nagpur.

The media team visited severeal environment friendly industrial units like sugar and power factories, cotton farms, water sheds, bamboo projects and agro-based factories at different parts of Nagpur district.

The crushed left over of sugar canes being put to use

At one power and sugar factory, project officer Jaykumarji Varma told media persons that after manufacturing several metric tonnes of sugar, the crushed sugarcane stems were used in generating 25 MW of power.

Of the 25 MW of power, 20 MW was sold to the power grid while the remaining 5 MW was using in running other factories.

Showing the whole process of crushing sugarcanes, the project officer claimed that the factory employs 2000 people directly in addition to benefiting around 10,000 families.

The media team also visited Yash Agro Energy Limited which was generating 8 MW of power from rice husk.

The factory manager said that rural-based industrial unit was set up with the primary objective of alleviating economic condition of the rural poor.

The media team was also shown the fields were cotton and sugar-cane were cultivated exclusively for feeding the factories.

They also saw the process of feeding the stalks of sugar-canes and cotton plants to a machine which brought out the stalks in neat bundles, ready for burning.

The factory manager said that straw and rice husk collected from 40/50 acres could easily generate one MW of power.

Food items produced by farmers are sold directly in the Purti Super Market.

Rickshaws which run on battery in place of the traditional paddling model were also shown to the media team.

It was said that the new rickshaw model which cost around Rs 40,000 was invented by the Purti group.

The media wound up their tour by visiting a museum run by the RSS.