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Efforts on to introduce ethanol in agriculture, construction equipment: Gadkari
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday stressed on the need to switch to alternative fuel like ethanol
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday stressed on the need to switch to alternative fuel like ethanol and said efforts are on to introduce ethanol in construction and agriculture equipment.
The Union road transport and highways minister said the country imports petroleum products worth ₹10 lakh crore to meet the requirements in the energy and power sector, and in the next five years, the demand may go up to ₹25 lakh crore, which will affect the economy.
Gadkari was speaking at the state-level Sugar Conference 2022 organised by Vasantdada Sugar Institute in Pune. Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar were also present for the event.
“Alternative fuel is the future. After electric scooters, cars and buses, soon we will have electric tractors and trucks. I am going to launch these soon,” Gadkari said.
Highlighting the need to shift from sugar production to ethanol, the minister said, “The rise in sugar demand across the globe is temporary. When the price of crude oil goes up to $140 per barrel, Brazil produces ethanol from sugarcane, increasing the demand for sugar from India. When the price of crude oil dips to $70 to $80 per barrel, Brazil starts producing sugar.” When crude oil becomes cheaper, sugar prices will also come down drastically, he said.
Gadkari also asked Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to set up ethanol pumps in Pune, to help farmers sell the fuel directly.
“We have decided to add 20 per cent ethanol in petrol in our country. Accordingly, we will need 1,000 crore litres of ethanol. Our sugar factories don’t have the capacity to produce that amount of fuel. Sugarcane prices will not come down in the near future, but sugar prices may drop. Hence, it is time that the sugar industry switches to ethanol. We have to talk to the petroleum minister and find a way,” the minister said.
Speaking at the event, NCP chief said the area under sugarcane will increase in the future and hence, planning for the harvest of the crop should be done at the start of the season.
“Harvesting and transportation of sugarcane has become a serious issue. The Sugar Commissionerate and sugar factories should have proper plans in place and implement them strictly,” he said.
Pawar further said the Central government needs to take strategic decisions to increase the storage capacity of ethanol and for that, the policy of oil companies needs to be more favourable in terms of investment, planning for rail transport and purchase of the fuel.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who addressed the conference virtually, said sugar producers in the state were facing several problems.
“We have to follow Brazil for market research. They (Brazil) conduct surveys and accordingly choose a crop in a year. Times are changing and accordingly, we should adopt technology. The future will be ethanol,” Thackeray said.
River transport between India and Bangladesh
To bring down logistic cost for agricultural commodities, a river transport will be started between India and Bangladesh, said Gadkari.
“Bangladesh is the biggest market for agricultural commodities, that are being produced in Maharashtra. Cotton, sugar, onion and other commodities are going to Bangladesh, but the transport cost is ₹5 lakh per container. I have requested the Bangladesh PM to start three river ports for transportation. These ports will be ready in 10-15 days. Once we get all the permissions, the commodities from Pune will go to Haldia port at Kolkata and later it would go by water ways. This will help save huge logistical cost. The existing commodities are currently being sent to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) first , from there it is transported to Colombo and then later it reaches Chittagaon in Bagladesh,” said Gadkari
Discussion on proposed roads
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and deputy CM Ajit Pawar on Saturday also discussed the proposed Pune ring road and Pune- Aurangabad green field roads.
Gadkari along with National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) gave a presentation to Pawar regarding these proposed projects.
Gadkari added that the NHAI has planned to construct the 68 km Urse-Kalewadi ring road.
