An educational campus in Gandhinagar has been able to completely stop relying on LPG cylinders by using biogas for cooking over 500 meals a day. The Shrimati Manekba Vinay Vihar Educational Complex has become completely self-sufficient by using biogas for cooking meals for 250 students and 15 resident families through a scheme launched by the government of Gujarat under the title “Institutional Biogas Plant Scheme”.
The campus currently operates two biogas plants, each with a 45-cubic-metre capacity. According to official figures released on Saturday, this setup provides a total of 90 cubic metres of fuel daily— enough to offset the 30 LPG cylinders the institute would otherwise have to purchase each month.
The system relies on a steady supply of dung from the 220 cows kept on-site. The benefits of the project, according to the complex manager, Rahul Patel, do not end there, as the slurry byproduct of the gas production is also a high-quality organic fertiliser, enabling the institution to engage in completely organic farming practices on its grounds.
The initiative is part of the bigger vision of the Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA), which provides various capacities of the plants, ranging from 25 to 85 cubic metres. The project has gained tremendous traction in the last five years, with 193 plants installed, producing nearly 14,000 cubic metres per day.
Looking into the future, the government has allocated ₹12 crore for the 2026-27 financial year to take the scheme a step further. It is expected that another 60 biogas plants would be commissioned at different places in Gujarat under this ongoing campaign of achieving rural energy independence.
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