PNS | DEHRADUN
The studies conducted by different institutes have found that the project to generate electricity from dry pine needles (pirul) has proved to be impractical and unviable in the State. This was stated by the Parliamentary Affairs minister Prem Chand Agarwal in response to a question in Vidhan Sabha on Friday. In his question, the Doiwala MLA Brijbhushan Gairola asked the reasons for closure of many pirul based projects in the State.
He said that the Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) had approved 21 pirul based projects in the State and out of them only six projects started operations. The minister said that out of these six projects five have closed operation and only one project in Uttarkashi is operational and added that this project too is on the verge of closure. He said that the State government is purchasing pirul at Rs 10 per kilogramme but the project has proven to be unviable.
It is pertinent to mention here that the government had initiated these projects as a means to address the forest fire risk posed by pirul while facilitating an income source for locals.
