In a major leap towards strengthening bilateral ties between India and Pakistan, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal on Sunday assured support and cooperation to the West Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif for setting up Biomass plants in Pakistan.
The announcement came during the West Punjab Chief Minister’s visit to 15 MW Universal Biomass Energy Private limited plant at Channu. Impressed by the optimum utilisation of agricultural waste for converting it into energy, Sharif, accompanied by Sukhbir and Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, evinced his keen interest in setting up such plants across Pakistan for producing power. He believed that such plants could be of great use for West Punjab, which is predominantly an agriculture economy, in catering to its power requirements.
likewise, Sharif also showed immense interest in agriculture implements made in the State and also asked the Deputy Chief Minister to help West Punjab by sharing this technology which could revolutionise the agriculture in that State. Evoking a positive response, Sukhbir said that East Punjab was ready to provide all kind of technical support and expertise to the West Punjab for setting up such power plants in Pakistan. “This step will usher a new era of unprecedented development in both the States across the border,” he added.
Deputy Chief Minister said that as per Sharif’s desire, a team of Government’s experts would be sent to West Punjab for sharing their knowledge of setting up such plants in west Punjab. “The setting up of these plants have been instrumental not in only augmenting the power supply in the State but have also played a major role in supplementing the income of the state’s farmer,” he said, adding that with the starting of this project, agriculture waste like paddy straw, wheat straw, cotton sticks, dry leaves and others bio-wastes, which were earlier of no use for the farmers, were now proving to be ‘gold mines’ by giving dividends to them.
Sukhbir said that not only this, but the residue of these biomass power plants was also being utilised for the production of fancy tiles, which were being used across the state. Deputy Chief Minister also apprised Sharif that the State Government was giving full support to the entrepreneurs interested in setting up of these plants so that the power needs of the state could be meted aptly. Sukhbir said: “As East and West Punjab have almost same topography, such plants could be very successful in that State also.”
On the occasion, the plant’s owner Pawanpreet Singh Dhillon apprised the visiting delegation that the project has been set up at a cost of Rs 100 crore and was producing 15 MW of power by consuming 500 tonnes of bio-waste per day. The plant owners, Pawanpreet Singh Dhillon and Jasbir Singh also felicitated the visiting delegation.
later, Mian Shahbaz Sharif also visited Mata Jaswant Kaur memorial School at village Badal where Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal welcomed him. Chief Minister and Mian Sharif also distributed sweets and fruits to the students.