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Gadkari to meet Manmohan on biofuel policy

BANGALORE: Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari will soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to urge him to promote biofuel development by freeing the sector from all taxes and accelerating the implementation of the national biofuel policy.

Announcing this at a national seminar on biofuel organised by the biofuel cells of the BJP here, Mr. Gadkari expressed concern that the implementation of the national biofuel policy evolved by the then NDA government had slackened now.

He said the biofuel could not only save huge foreign exchange by reducing the import of fossil fuels, which accounted for more than 30 per cent of the Central budget size, but also reduce the pollution level.

Tool for economic development

Biofuel was also a tool for economic development of rural areas and increasing agricultural growth rate as it would provide additional and assured income to farmers besides creating new employment opportunities, he said, referring to the high demand for fuel in the country.

Mr. Gadkari demanded that the Centre relax norms to allow farmers and sugar factories to set up biofuel sales centres in every village to reduce petroleum fuel shortage besides improving financial position of farmers.

According to him, it would be possible to sell biodiesel at a price which was lesser than the conventional diesel by about Rs. 10 a litre. “By encouraging biofuel sector, it is possible to not only check migration from villages to urban areas, but also reverse it wherein people from cities go to rural areas in search of jobs.”

He wanted the Centre to involve NGOs and private firms in the initiative to develop the biofuel sector.

Hails State's model

He hailed the Karnataka model of biofuel development, which did not clash with food requirements and focussed on using only the barren land for cultivation of biofuel plants.

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