Baba Aya Singh Riarki College - A free Education College

COLLEGE CAMPUS

Baba Aya Singh Riarki College situated at Village Tugalwala, Distt. Gurdaspur is a remarkable example of use of renewable energy, shifting from the fringe to the main stream of sustainable development through utilization of the naturally and locally available materials like sun light, cow dung, human excreta etc. for the generation of electricity and biogas.

It was in the year 1994 that the steps were taken to utilize the locally available and naturally occurring materials, when under a Government of Punjab funded project, a community based biogas plant (KVIC model ; floating dome type) was setup by Punjab Energy Development Agency in its campus. The force behind was an engineer S. Pritam Singh Bajwa. Since, this school had its own cattle, availability of cow dung was never a problem. With passing time, as number of students grew in size (especially those coming from far flung areas and staying in hostels) the energy needs also increased in the form of lights/fans, hot water and cooking requirements. Experiments were conducted on the successfully running single stage floating dome type community biogas plant. It was observed that its overflow still had enough strength for the production of Biogas. Another unit was installed in series and the overflow of first plant was fed to the second plant. Experiments were further conducted to tap energy from human excreta as the institute had nearly 200 toilets and the disposal of wastewater from the same was becoming difficult. Sewage was fed to 2 No septic tank, overflow of which used to be disposed earlier. Cow dung when mixed with this overflow for the production of slurry to be fed to the cow dung Biogas plant resulted in nearly doubling the amount of gas generated w.r.t the one earlier being generated.

Presently with nearly 40 Nos. cattle and nearly 5000 students overall and approx. 2000 hostlers this institution has a community based bio -gas plant in which bio- gas production units are placed in series (As depicted in the flow Chart). This helps in reduction of organic load at each step & production of bio gas. The outflow at the last bio gas plant is already treated and is bereft of any organic matter. It is further fed to the irrigation fields of school fields where wheat/ rice is grown for the consumption of the students, through a small channel which is also used as a boundary wall for the school by covering it with pre-cast blocks. The school has a requirement of 8 LPG cylinders/ day for cooking purposes. Today 50 % requirement worth RS 1000/- per day is being met by the bio -gas plants. In addition to the economic gains, bio-gas being eco-friendly, generates minimum pollution in the kitchen. The Principal of the college has also got designed a pressure cooker, which cooks food for entire hostellers.

The successful experiments with the bio gas plants further opened the horizons and solar energy was tapped in the campus. The campus today boasts of having following solar power driven amenities:

1. 2 No solar pumps.

2. 60 tube lights/fans.

3. 4 No streetlights.

4. Hot water.

5. 1 No solar cooker

6. Television.

The college has been able to reduce its electricity expenses by at least Rs 10,000/- per month because of the above solar powered amenities. There is also a locally designed cost effective solar battery.

Some Selected Photographs