Bilaspur, April 4
The Naina Devi Temple Trust is the first Shakti Peeth in Himachal Pradesh to make biogas from organic waste produced in its community kitchen. This marks a big step forward in sustainable waste management at a major religious site.
The temple, in Bilaspur district, has set up a modern biogas plant that can handle solid waste. The plant is now running, and the gas it makes is used in the temple kitchen to cook prasad and langar meals for devotees.
Dharampal Chaudhary, Chairman of the Shri Naina Devi Temple Trust and Sub Divisional Magistrate, said this project is a major change in how waste from large langar operations is managed. He also said the biogas plant will be expanded soon.
Right now, the plant handles up to 200 kilograms of organic waste each day and makes about 20 kilograms of biogas daily in its first phase. Officials said the trust plans to raise gas production to match how much commercial LPG is used now.
At present, the temple langar uses five to eight commercial LPG cylinders each day to serve meals to devotees. Switching to biogas should lower fuel costs and help the temple manage its organic waste in an eco-friendly way.
Officials said that before this project, removing large amounts of organic waste from the langar was a major challenge, both logistically and environmentally. The project was set up with help from Green Brick Eco Solutions. Because the temple serves meals year-round, waste is high. With this new system, the trust hopes to set an example for other religious sites in the state that want to adopt cleaner, more sustainable method.
