The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Importance of blending ethanol with petrol stressed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 26, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Importance of blending ethanol with petrol stressed

Special Correspondent

Five sugar factories in State produce 58,400 kilolitres of ethanol

‘Blending ethanol with petrol will save foreign exchange’
Panel favours financial support
to sugar units

— Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Backing farmers: K. Vadivelu, farmers’ activist from Tamil Nadu; Chukki Nanjundaswamy (centre), working president of KRRS; and V. Bhavani Prasad (right) from Andhra Pradesh at the workshop on ‘Sugarcane policy in India: problems and prospects’ in Bangalore on Thursday.

Bangalore: Karnataka consumes 6,60,000 kilolitres (kl) of petrol annually and if it has to be blended with at five per cent ethanol, the ethanol requirement will be 33,000 kl,

according to JalaSpandana.

Speaking at a farmers’ workshop on ‘Sugarcane policy in India: problems and prospects’ organised by JalaSpandana, its treasurer S.M. Patil said that five sugar factories in the State — Renuka Sugars, Godavari Sugars, Ugar Sugars, Dodhaganga Krishna Cooperative Sugar Factory and Shamanur Sugars — had been producing 58,400 kl of ethanol.

But, thanks to the Union Government’s order relaxing the mandatory use of ethanol blending with petrol, Mr. Patil said ethanol production was not used at all. The production of ethanol, he said, would not only save foreign exchange, but also protect the environment. The Centre had ordered blending of ethanol at five per cent with petrol in 2002, but relaxed it in 2004.

The Sugar Industry Rejuvenation Committee constituted by the Centre had recommended financial support to the sugar factories. Under this, NABARD had proposed rescheduling of the loans amounting to Rs.167.83 crore taken by eight sugar factories in the State in the next 15 years. This was under the consideration of the Government, he said.

In his introductory speech, JalaSpandana executive director R. Doraiswamy said the farmers were not getting the correct price for their produce. They were incurring losses due to improper weighing at the factory. He demanded that the Sugar Control Order of 1966 be amended in the interests of sugarcane growers. Mr. Doraiswamy alleged that factories were deliberately quoting low figures while calculating the cane supplied to them on the pretext that the sugar content was less. He said many factories were delaying payment to farmers. The Centre imported sugar when there was a glut in the country and banned export for six months, hitting the farmers hard.

V. Bhavani Prasad from Andhra Pradesh demanded that the State governments implement the M.S. Swaminathan Committee recommendations, particularly on the minimum support price for paddy and sugarcane.

Chukki Nanjundaswamy, working president, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha; H.N. Bhavi from Badami; Sunanda Jayaram, farmers’ activist; K. Vadivelu of Tamil Nadu; A. Ramaswamy, former president of JalaSpandana; and Eshwar Daithota, journalist, spoke.

Most speakers urged the Government to allow blending of ethanol with petrol, so that farmers could get remunerative prices.

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