New Delhi, Oct 19 Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Monday inaugurated a Rs 16-crore biogas plant at Goyla Dairy in southwest Delhi, which is expected to process 200 metric tonnes of cattle dung daily and help prevent dairy waste from entering drains and polluting the Yamuna, officials said.
According to an official statement, the plant will produce around 14,000 cubic metres of raw biogas and 5.6 tonnes of purified compressed biogas daily, with the gas to be supplied to Indraprastha Gas Limited through a pipeline. The residual slurry will be used as organic fertiliser, it read.
The facility comes amid efforts to address the disposal of cattle dung generated in Delhi’s dairy colonies, where inadequate waste management has allowed the material to enter drains and eventually reach the Yamuna, the statement read.
Gupta said tackling pollution at its source is essential to cleaning the river, adding that waste generated in dairy colonies needs to be processed rather than allowed to flow into drains.
“Cleaning the Yamuna alone is not enough; effective action must also be taken against the factors that cause pollutants to reach it,” she said.
The plant, located on Main Goyla Dairy Road, has been developed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) under the Urban Development Fund of the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The project is designed to process cattle dung and municipal solid waste into fuel and organic fertiliser.
Around 200 metric tonnes of cattle dung are generated daily in the Goyla Dairy area. Under the project, the implementing agency will collect dung from dairy operators at 67 paise per kilogram, providing livestock owners with an additional source of income while reducing the burden of waste disposal.
The plant’s commissioning had initially been scheduled for September 17.
MCD Commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar had directed the implementing agency to ensure adequate arrangements for collecting, transporting and processing the dung and prevent it from entering nearby drains.
Gupta said three biogas plants had become operational in Delhi over the past 18 months, while work was underway on six more.
Citing the example of the Nangli Sakrawati plant, she said it had processed 55,000 tonnes of cattle dung in a year, for which farmers had been paid Rs 3.5 crore.
The chief minister also said Rs 50 crore had been allocated for constructing drains and improving drainage systems in the city’s dairy colonies, where basic infrastructure, including waste collection and water supply, had remained inadequate for years.
According to the statement, the project is part of broader efforts to convert waste into usable resources, in line with the Centre’s ‘Waste to Wealth’ approach. Gupta said the objective was to prevent pollutants from reaching the Yamuna while generating clean fuel and organic manure.
The inauguration also comes in the context of the Centre’s Clean Yamuna initiative, under which Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently set a target of processing 1,500 tonnes of dairy waste, the statement read.
Cabinet Minister Ashish Sood said successive governments had relocated dairies from residential colonies to designated dairy areas but had not done enough to ensure scientific disposal of cattle dung or provide adequate civic infrastructure.
“Delhi now wants concrete action and results instead of excuses and delays,” Sood said, describing the plant as an example of the government’s approach to addressing long-standing civic problems.
Mayor Pravesh Wahi, Deputy Mayor Monika Pant and MLA Sandeep Sehrawat were among those present at the inauguration.
Gupta urged dairy operators to cooperate with the designated collection system and asked officials and plant operators to ensure regular collection and safe processing of cattle dung.
The government said the initiative was aimed at improving sanitation in dairy colonies, reducing the flow of waste into drains and expanding the use of waste-derived clean energy.
(PTI News)
