Some analysts feel that mandating blending of ethanol with petrol would reduce the import of crude oil in the country, thereby saving precious foreign exchange.
The government has already made it mandatory for doping of petrol with at least five per cent of ethanol across the country to save around 100 crore litre of fuel annually.
However, owing to supply constraints in ethanol, the programme is not being implemented in all states. It is learnt that some states have good supply of ethanol, while others do not have it.
States such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra are the largest producers and can be developed as major suppliers of it. In order to look into various issue like supply-side of ethanol, distribution and technology, the Department of Heavy Industry (DHI) has decided to set up a panel.
Earlier, BJP President Nitin Gadkari met Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Praful Patel to seek his ministry’s intervention in implementation of the ethanol-blending programme.
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