The Hindu : National : Government plans to revive ethanol-blended petrol

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Wednesday, Aug 10, 2005

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National

Government plans to revive ethanol-blended petrol

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: : The Government has plans to revive the old but ambitious programme of running automobiles on petrol blended with ethanol from October.

At a high-level meeting at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Tuesday, the supply position of ethanol was reviewed in a bid to re-launch the programme with the aim of reducing the consumption of the costly fuel. To begin with, the programme is to be started in nine States and four Union territories.

During the discussions at the meeting chaired by Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister T.K.A. Nair, representatives of the Indian Sugar Mills Association assured adequate supplies of ethanol, a sugarcane residue, for blending with petrol.

The programme, it may be recalled, was discontinued earlier owing to insufficient supplies of ethanol in the wake of poor sugarcane crop. According to the plans, public sector oil companies will finalise tenders for sourcing ethanol by mid-September.

The oil companies will require 434,000 kilolitres of ethanol for supplying five per cent ethanol-blended petrol in Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal and U.P. and in Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

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