Developing power from Pine needles

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Mr. Trivendra Singh Rawat has written a blog on developing power from Pine needles. In his blog, the Chief Minister said that the main objective of this policy is to make pine needles a medium of economic self-reliance especially for the women of the state. In his blog, the Chief Minister wrote that the forests of the state which are resource rich will now become a source of power generation along with generating income for the people.
He said that if we look at the geographical terrain of #Uttarakhand, the pine forest are sizeable. Out of 4 lakh hectare forest land, 16.36 percent area under pine forest. He said that the green leaves of pine trees are useful only till they are green and used to lay down under the cattle’s to keep them dry but when they dry out, are of no use. The pine needles start shedding before the onslaught of summer season and are called ‘Pirul’ but these ‘Pirul’ becomes a major cause for forest fire during the summer season. The fire spreads rapidly in any mixed forest which are laden with ‘Pirul’ and engulfs the whole forests resulting in damage to the flora, fauna and wild animals. The Chief Minister through his blog has highlighted such challenges and said that the state government was always looking for solution to such problems. The state government by introducing the ‘Pirul’ Policy has made the Pine forests a medium of income generation and has kept targets for electricity generation through it.
Pine needle (Pirul) policy
The government will use pine needles effectively and through its commercial use will generate electricity and bio fuel. The target of generating 150 Megawatt of electricity from ‘Pirul’ has been kept in ten years. The government will establish briquetting and bio-fuel units in the state. The pine needle will be processed to generate electricity. The bio-fuel units will be run by self- help groups, industrial organisations, gram panchayats, Van Panchayats, Mahila Mangal Dals. The state government is planning to set up 6000 such units in the state. The cost of setting up of a 1 kilowatt biofuel unit for electricity generation from Pine needles is around Rs 1 Lakh. But for 25 kilowatt unit, subsidy will be provided under MSME. The 25 Kilowatt unit will produce 1.40 lakh unit electricity and around 21 thousand kilo charcoal and one will be able to earn around Rs 9.3 lakhs from it.
Pine needles will become the medium for employment and women empowerment
The Chief Minister Mr. Trivendra Singh Rawat said that the pine needles will become a medium for employment and economic empowerment for women. He said through the pine needle policy, the possibilities of economic empowerment and employment will increase for women.
He said that they will get employment by collecting the pine needles from forest to the collect centre. The Mahila Mangal Dals will be responsible at Van Panchayat level and by doing this the women will be able to earn from their homes and become economically empowered. The role of women groups and Mahila Van panchayats will also be strengthened and considering that the government is planning to set up 6000 units in which if 10 people are employed then it will mean an employment for 60 thousand people thus helping in curbing the migration problem. He said that the policies like “Prasad” distribution in temples, LED light production and training and giving employment in the growth centres and now the pine needles policy were being undertaken to link people with income generation. The Chief Minister said that he was working towards making the women of the state economically empowered and socially strong and the pine needles will become a major policy in the path of development of the state.