Biogas keeps the flame alive in these MP villages as LPG shortage hits homes nationwide

BHOPAL/JABALPUR: In the middle of a nationwide LPG supply crunch, when every household in Madhya Pradesh like the entire country is facing a crisis of cooking gas and rationing their cooking, two villages in MP namely –Bandarkol village in Jabalpur district and Baghuwar village in the adjoining Narsinghpur district – feels no pinch and the kitchen stoves are up and running. The villagers have powered their kitchen stoves with biogas, instead of LPG cylinders.In Bandarkol, several households installed small biogas plants that converted cattle dung into cooking fuel. Residents said the system required only a few minutes of daily effort but kept stoves burning throughout the day. 55-year-old villager Hembai Patel said the plant met her family's entire cooking requirement. "Every morning, I put cow dung into the biogas plant. We have 3 cows and 4 calves at home, so the dung we get is enough for our needs and we don't need to get it from outside. The gas produced is sufficient for cooking meals and making tea and snacks for both my family and my sister-in-law's family," she said. Another resident, Sunita Patel, said installing a biogas plant 5 years ago freed her household from worrying about fuel costs. "We installed the plant around 5 years ago and since then we never faced any problem arranging fuel. Sometimes gas production reduces during the rainy season or the plant needs minor repairs, but in all these years we did not spend money on cooking fuel," she said.Villager Krishna Patel cited environmental benefits. "Biogas does not produce smoke, so it is better for the environment. The slurry that comes out of the plant is also used as manure in fields. So, we get both gas and organic fertiliser," he said.According to assistant secretary of the village panchayat Ghursen Lodhi, around 50 out of nearly 400 families in Bandarkol and nearby Basa village installed biogas plants. "About 7 years ago an NGO helped set up 3 cubic metre biogas plants in many homes. Beneficiaries only had to pay labour charges," he said.In Baghuwar village, a panchayat in Narsinghpur district known in the region for its development initiatives, representative of the sarpanch Preity Chauhan, Nitendra Chauhan, said biogas made the village less vulnerable to LPG shortages."There are around 15–16 biogas plants in our village that are operational. These operational plants fuel kitchens of around 50 families, which means nearly 10% of homes here use biogas as a cooking fuel source. Many households also use LPG along with biogas because cow dung availability has reduced nowadays. Some people bring dung from other villagers too, but this self-reliance definitely makes the LPG crisis less scary," he told TOI. Another resident, Gajendra Chauhan, whose family used biogas for more than a decade, said the system provided a fallback during supply disruptions.