This Maharashtra village cooks without LPG or firewood

The Faraktes’ village home doesn’t have an LPG cooktop. Neither does it have a woodfired oven or induction cooktop. Amid conflict in West Asia, it is also free of panic over cooking gas supply that’s evident across most of India. The source of their peace of mind sits in their own backyard, promising an uninterrupted supply of cooking fuel. But that is nothing surprising in their village in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district, where about a fifth of all dwellings have domestic biogas units.For the last three years, Sanjay and Suvarna have done all their cooking and water heating on a stove that runs on biogas generated from manure, kitchen waste and even sewage in their backyard. The Faraktes have set up a three metric cube unit, sufficient for a family of five. The pipe that runs directly from the digester to their kitchen brings gas generated from manure and human waste.Biogas is climate-friendly and doesn’t harm the lungs like typical chulhas. After extraction, it leaves behind a rich fertiliser. “The supply is steady and clean. I don’t cough or have breathing trouble from the smoke generated by its burning,” Suvarna said. In Faraktewadi, her village of 1,100 residents in Kagal tehsil of Kolhapur district, nearly 200 households having biogas units. The story is repeated in 12 villages in Kolhapur district where all households have biogas units. Those who have the facility but did not use it are restoring it after realising that the heat of the West Asia war can singe them, too.Villagers do point out that the efficiency of biogas units can be affected during monsoon as temperatures cool. That’s because the decomposing bacteria in the biogas unit are more active when the temperature is high. But, even then, the gas generated is enough for cooking, though villagers store up on cowdung cakes as a backup. Nearly 1.24 lakh units have been set up in Kolhapur through centrally sponsored schemes since 1982, first as part of former PM Indira Gandhi’s 20-point programme and, now, under the Modi govt’s National Biogas and Organic Manure Programme. In fact, Kolhapur alone accounts for nearly 20% of the installation target for Maharashtra’s 34 districts under the new programme.The impetus has also come from the Centre’s subsidy of Rs 14,350 per biogas unit after it is ready. Kolhapur Zilla Parishad (ZP) offers Rs 5,000 per unit to cover cement, brick and labour costs. But fewer biogas units were set up last year as the targets were achieved in the first four years and the Rs 100 crore grant dried up. ZP authorities are waiting for phase-2, and want Centre to increase the subsidy amount, which has remained stagnant since 2021. They also want the funds released before every March.“No family will set up biogas units without financial assistance. The subsidy is what they want. In recent years, Centre has not released its share. Only if the subsidy is released on time, and is hiked, will more rural households set up biogas units,” a ZP official said.