india

Updated: Jan 28, 2019 09:33 IST

Uttar Pradesh government, as a part of an innovative plan, would set up hair collection centres where the barbers would sell the hair for Rs 40 per kg.

In the first phase, the centre would be operational in ten districts which have been identified on the basis of high availability of human hair. The hair would be used in making amino acid with cow urine and dung, which would be sold in the open market.

Bhartiya Harit Khadi Gramodyog Sansthan (BHKGS), a unit of Khadi Board and Gramodyog, has prepared an ambitious scheme to promote cottage industries.

In this plan the hair collection centres would be set up in ten cities of the state including Kanpur and Lucknow.

Minister for Khadi Gramodyog, Satyadeo Pachauri said the centres would be set up by the first week of March. An memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has already been signed with a company for installing the plant for producing amino acid from hair, cow urine and cow dung.

Amino acid was required for producing organic manure and also for producing pesticides and insecticides. On the one hand the barbers would get an additional income from the waste and on the other hand this would check the practice of throwing waste hair on roadside, Pachauri said.

The minister said the BHKGS had conducted a survey and found that over 800 kg of hair was thrown as waste in the cities. The waste hair would prove to be a potential raw material for producing amino acid which had multi- purpose use. The sale price of amino acid would be around Rs 150, per litre he added.

Controller of the Training Program run by BHKGS Vijay Rai said that after two years hectic research on the project we had been able to produce amino acid with human hair, cow dung and cow urine.

“We are imparting training to people so that they could run the collection centres and help in amino acid production. In the first phase the centres would be set up in Kanpur City, Kanpur Dehat, Lucknow, Banda, Sitapur, Hardoi, and Faizabad. More such centres would be opened in other districts of the state,” he added.

The plan was accelerated after the Khadi Gram Udyog was approached by a company from Karnataka and placed an order for 50,000 litre of amino acid on trial basis. If it was found fit for their products the company would require about two lakh litres of amino acid per month, he said.