Gujarat institute cooks 500 meals daily using biogas, cuts LPG use under state scheme

An educational institution in Gujarat has been preparing more than 500 meals daily using biogas, eliminating the need for LPG cylinders, under the state's Institutional Biogas Plant Scheme, officials said. The institution has become self-reliant in cooking gas, amid its supply concerns due to the ongoing West Asia conflict. At Shrimati Manekba Vinay Vihar Educational Complex in Gandhinagar, food is cooked twice every day for around 250 students, while about 15 families on the campus also use the fuel for cooking, a government release said on Saturday.

The campus operates two biogas plants of 45 cubic metres each, with a total capacity of 90 cubic metres per day, it added. Without the plants, the institute would need nearly 30 LPG cylinders per month, but currently requires none, officials said. Supported by the government scheme, the institution has become self-reliant in cooking gas, its manager, Rahul Patel, said.

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With nearly 220 cows, it has sufficient dung for biogas production, and the slurry generated is used as a fertiliser, enabling fully organic farming, he added. The scheme is provided by Gujarat Energy Development Agency to institutions for biogas plants with capacities of 25, 35, 45, 60, and 85 cubic metres.

Over the past five years, 193 such plants with a combined capacity of 13,955 cubic metres per day have been installed across Gujarat. For 2026-27, the state has allocated Rs 12 crore under the scheme and plans to set up around 60 more biogas plants, the officials said.