The Minister said ethanol production could save the country’s fuel. “There is a need to run vehicles on electricity and ethanol on the lines of Brazil,” the Minister said.
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari. (ANI Photo)
All vehicles in the country should run on 100% ethanol and Centre is ready to enter into Ethanol Purchase Agreement for five years from ethanol producers to boost ethanol production, said the Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday while inaugurating a National Highway Project totalling a length of 527 kilometer costing Rs 4075 crore.
The Minister said ethanol production could save the country’s fue. “There is a need to run vehicles on electricity and ethanol on the lines of Brazil,” the Minister said.
“Our country produced 4.65 billion litres of ethanol last year and we need 16.5 billion litres of ethanol. So the Central Government will take up as much ethanol as is produced. Ethanol is a better and cheaper green fuel than petrol,” the Minister said while calling all vehicles to run on ethanol.
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“We are importing crude oil and natural gas worth Rs 12 lakh crores. India has already allowed ethanol pumps. So, all sugar mills should start ethanol pumps in their area”, the Minister said. “India needs 240 lakh tonnes of sugar, while last year 310 lakh tonnes of sugar was produced. This additional sugar of 70 lakh tonnes should be converted into ethanol,” the Minister said.
He also said that the Government of India is ready to enter into an Ethanol Purchase Agreement for five years, like the power purchase agreement. “If ethanol is produced in the near future, imports will come down and farmers will earn Rs 5 lakh crore out of Rs 12 lakh crore being spent for import of crude oil. Sugarcane will fetch good prices and farmers will no longer remain poor,” Gadkari said.
The Central Government has given permission to produce ethanol not only from sugarcane but also from rice, maize and other grains, informed the Minister. He said the Centre is ready to set up logistics parks, industrial clusters and transport towns wherever land is provided by the state government for ethanol production.
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