Chandigarh With paddy harvest on since a fortnight, the Centre has pushed Punjab to focus on ex-situ management of the crop stubble. Ongoing schemes of in-situ management will continue.

The ex-situ management of paddy stubble means adopting methods in which the stubble is moved from its original place. The most common way is to tie the stubble in bundles and supply it as fuel in biomass-based power generation plants, industrial boilers and in coal based-super critical power generating units. In in-situ, stubble is managing without moving it.

The Centre’s Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas’ had asked Pnjab to do this, with experts claiming that ex-situ management involves lower cost.

Subsequently, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has asked the state’s three thermal power plants to use paddy stubble as fuel to the extent of 10% of total annual coal use. Two of these plants are with the state government; together the three consume 70 lakh tonne of coal a year.

“Trials have shown that biomass pellets can be used as thermal power plant fuels, as it give matching calorific value. Boilers can also handle this fuel in limited quantity,” said PPCB member Krunesh Garg, adding that a target of using 50,000 tonne stubble has been fixed for these power plants.