Under Rurban Mission, a system to generate electricity from food waste was established at a cost of ₹66 lakh at Kanjirangal near Sivaganga.
| Photo Credit: L. BALACHANDAR
The project to generate electricity from food waste in Sivaganga, which was praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been stalled, resulting in machinery worth several lakhs of rupees going to waste. Under the Rurban Mission, a system to generate electricity from food waste was established at Kanjirangal village near Sivaganga at a cost of ₹66 lakh. This project was launched on August 10, 2021, through the efforts of the then District Collector P. Madhusudhan Reddy and Panchayat President Manimuthu. Under this project, electricity could be generated from two tonnes of food waste per day. The necessary vegetable, chicken, and fish food waste for this was collected daily from the Kanjirangal Panchayat and Sivaganga Municipality areas. Later, they crushed it, mixed it with water, and poured it into the storage facility there. It decomposed and turned into methane gas. Through this, they operated a generator and produced 220 kW of electricity. The electricity obtained from this was being used for streetlights in Kanjirangal, four battery vehicles and the electric motors there. Due to this, the electricity bill for the panchayat was reduced by several thousand rupees. Further, the facility also provided employment opportunities to about three locals.Upon learning about this, Mr. Modi praised this project in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ program. The private company that established this system maintained it until the year 2023. After that, the Panchayat Administration itself undertook the electricity generation work. The project was stalled about six months ago due to a machinery breakdown. As a result, machinery worth several lakhs of rupees is going to be wasted. The local residents urged that this project, which was praised by the Prime Minister himself, should be brought back into use. When asked about this, Rural Development Department officials said, “Only the private company that established the food waste-to-electricity system can repair the machinery. We are talking with that company. It will be operational again soon.” Published - June 10, 2026 06:45 pm IST
