All dumping sites to be converted into green zones in 2-3 yrs: PM

All waste dumping sites in the country will be converted into green zones in the next two-three years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while digitally inaugurating Asia's largest Bio-CNG plant in Madhya Pradesh's financial capital Indore, on Saturday.

"Under the Clean India Mission part-2, our government decided to remove these waste dumping sites and convert them into a green zone. Centre is providing all help to the states and the municipal corporations," he said.

Congratulating Madhya Pradesh government and the Indore Municipal Corporation for setting up Asia's largest Bio-CNG plant, the Prime Minister said, this development will not only help in removing municipal waste and to convert into energy but it will also improve tourism in the city.

"The site where this Bio-CNG plant has been set up, till a few years back, was a huge garbage mountain, but today that waste dumping site has been converted into a green zone. I congratulate Indore Municipal Corporation and the state government for their relentless efforts in this sector. I believe that municipal corporations of other cities will follow Indore and will make their cities clean and green," Modi said.

He said the municipal waste that has been a bigger problem in the country, so far, especially in the big cities, is now becoming a source of renewable energy. "The technology for converting waste into energy was available in the country, but it did not get appropriate attention. My government has decided to make this dumped waste into a source of energy," PM added.

Touted as the largest such facility in Asia by local civic officials, the plant will produce 18,000 kg of Bio-CNG daily, which will be used to power Indore Municipal Corporation's transport buses. It will also produce a large quantity of compost.

The technology for Indore's Bio-CNG has been imported from Denmark. The preparation of Bio-CNG takes around 20 to 25 days. This biogas contains 55-60 per cent methane. For converting biogas to CNG, 95 per cent methane is required. So, after cleaning and upgrading it gets converted to Bio-CNG. A filling station has also been built where city buses of the municipal corporation can get CNG.

"We are planning to convert all the city buses to CNG; this will also help purify the air quality. With a total capacity of 550 MT, the plant will produce CNG with 96 per cent pure methane gas. The plant has been set up on the waste-to-wealth concept of the Prime Minister wherein biogas will be generated through wet waste," Indore Collector Manish Singh said.