At Sistema.bio, our core belief is in empowering farmers and communities, guiding them towards sustainability, self-reliance, and independence. Embedded within this belief is our identity as environmental activists, driven by a commitment to protecting nature for the generations to come. Along our journey, we continuously encounter kindred spirits who share our values and vision, one such community being the ISKCON Nilachal Vedic Village.
Located approximately 120 km away from Mumbai in Talasari, Palghar, the Nilachal Vedic Village is a vedic farm community that believes in living in harmony with the ecosystem and utilizing nature’s gifts to serve society. For years the community has been practicing agriculture while also tending to the 300 cows they home.
At the heart of the village is a community kitchen that serves prasadam (sacrament) to 50-60 residents of the village daily and 400 to 500 devotees that visit on the weekends. Amidst this communal hub, 16 families also reside each dedicated to their own seva or service. The families have their own home with a separate kitchen. However, a common challenge grapples them all – the scarcity of reliable cooking gas.
For years, the Nilachal Vedic Village had relied on LPG for their cooking needs, opening them to the dual challenge of significant monthly expense on LPG and the difficult process involved in its procurement. To overcome this the village installed a traditional biogas plant, but the limitation of the system left them once again scrambling to use costly LPG. Faced with this dilemma, they started looking for alternative solutions that could not only provide them with clean energy but also resonated with their values and beliefs. It was during this search for resolution that they discovered our solutions.
In May 2022, a Sistema 200 with a complete biogas kit was installed, heralding a new era for independence for the residents of the village. The Sistema 200 not only provided abundant gas to satisfy the cooking needs of the community kitchen but the connection was also extended to the 16 families living in the village.
The impact was immediate and profound as testified by Khushboo Pathak, a resident of the village for almost 8 years. For Khushboo, like many others, biogas brought a welcome ease to her daily life. Before the Sistema 200 was installed, she, too, relied on LPG for cooking. However, beyond the monthly expense of almost ₹1,500 to ₹2,000, what troubled Khushboo and her family most was the exhausting process of procurement. Located on the outskirts of Talasari, obtaining LPG meant arduous journeys to distant locations, incurring additional costs. But in the two years since switching to biogas, Khushboo has experienced a significant reduction in cooking time, affording her more precious moments with her family. Now, the money once spent on LPG is redirected to other important activities, enriching their lives in ways beyond measure.
Meanwhile, in the communal kitchen and fields of the ISKCON community, the transformation was equally remarkable. Gaurav Maurya, a brahmachari at the Shri Krishna temple in the Nilachal Vedic Village, shared that their previous expenditure on LPG for the community kitchen amounted to a staggering ₹25,000 to ₹30,000 monthly. Additional to which was the daunting expense of ₹4,00,000 to ₹5,00,000 on fertilizer for their farm. However, since the installation, this financial burden has been entirely lifted.
As attested by Khushboo and Gaurav, the transformation witnessed at Nilachal Vedic Village has been more than just a financial boon; it signifies a remarkable enhancement in the community’s cooking experience and a shift towards self-reliance. The installation of the biodigester has not only ensured a consistent energy supply but has also revitalized their commitment to coexisting harmoniously with nature, instilling a fresh sense of optimism with the residents of the village.
