As a part of efforts directed at reviving the shutdown sugar mills of the State, in principle approval has been accorded to the establishment of a compressed biogas plant worth Rs 180 crore at Rakhra (Patiala) sugar mill. The decision was taken by the state Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Friday while presiding over a high level meeting with the top brass of the Indian Oil at the Markfed Bhawan. Randhawa said that the project has been approved as a part of the strategy of the Cooperation Department to revive the closed sugar mills of Punjab and make use of them. “The project, on one hand, would be useful in tackling the problem posed by the paddy stubble burning, and on the other hand, would come in handy in terms of generating job avenues,” he said. He said that paddy straw would be bought from the farmers through the cooperative societies for this biogas plant which would increase the income of local cooperative societies thus strengthening the cooperative movement at grassroots level.
