KOZHIKODE: A firm from Kerala has won national recognition in the exhibition of innovative energy conservation ideas held last month. The ‘JP Tech’ owned by V. Jayaprakash of Koyilandy, which manufactures fuel efficient and innovative smokeless stove and community chulhas, has become the knowledge partner of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), an NGO supported by the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change. The exhibition was held at the CEE headquarters in Ahmedabad.
“There are many smokeless stoves. The specialty of JP stove is that it has multiple options, tailor-made for a family and another for schools which cook under mid-day meal scheme,” said P. Parthesh, CEE programme director. Under the knowledge partnership scheme, JP Tech will get Rs 25 lakh under small grant programme (SGP) according to the project it submits.
The fund is being released by UNDP through CEE. The selection was after a team comprising UNDP and CEE officials visited the schools which use JP stove for the mid-day meal scheme in Kerala, said Jayaprakash. “They visited the schools at Payyanakkal, Poyilkav and Muchukunnu in Kozhikode district and took the feedback,” he told DC. The UNDP also wants JP stoves to be used in the Ganga river basin in Jharkhand on a pilot basis under the project of rejuvenation of Ganga.
The stove and chulhas designed by Jayaprakash have been saving lakhs of trees and arresting the emission of green house gases. Already, 47 schools in Kozhikode and Idukki districts are using the fuel-efficient stove for mid-day meal scheme under the UNDP programme jointly implemented by the Centre for Energy and Environment, a national institution of the Union ministry of environment and forests. As many as 7,500 stoves have been manufactured by Jayaprakash till now.
