Centre to formulate policies on alternative fuels: Gadkari

THE CENTRE plans to prepare policies for promoting the production and usage of alternative fuels such as ethanol and methanol, aimed at pruning the country’s annual Rs 6 lakh-crore crude imports bill by at least Rs 1 lakh crore per year using agro wastes.

Draft policies on the two fuels would be prepared by the petroleum ministry for approval of the Cabinet,unionroadtransportand highways minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.

Following a meeting with his petroleum counterpart Dharmendra Pradhan, Gadkari said, if second-generation ethanol can be produced from bamboo, cotton straw, wheat straw, rice straw and bagass etc, it could lead to creation of 25 lakh rural jobs and establishment of 1,500-2,000 industry units, mostly in villages. FE