Flex-fuel engines to be mandatory soon

I HAVE A WISH. I WOULD LIKE TO STOP THEUSEOFPETROLANDDIESELINTHE COUNTRY IN MY LIFETIME AND OUR FARMERS CAN GIVE THE ALTERNATIVE TO THIS IN THE FORM OF ETHANOL NITIN GADKARI

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said he would issue an order in the next three to four months, which will make it mandatory for the carmakers to introduce flex-fuel engines in vehicles.

He said he wishes to see the country get rid of petrol and diesel consumption in his lifetime by switching to locally-produced ethanol.

The Minister for Road Transport and Highways was speaking at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of a flyover in Pune, where Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was also present.

"I am going to issue an order in the next three to four months, in which carmakers - from BMW, Mercedes to TATA and Mahindra - will be asked to make flex engines," he said.

Gadkari said he had asked Bajaj and TVS companies to introduce flex engines in their vehicles, and also instructed them not to approach him until and unless they do so, after which they came up with ethanol-flex engine.

Flex fuel, or flexible fuel, is an alternative fuel made of a combination of gasoline and methanol or ethanol.

"I have a wish. I would like to stop the petrol and diesel use in the country in my lifetime and our farmers can give the alternative to this in the form of ethanol," he said.

Gadkari added that in order tackle the issue of noise pollution caused by honking, rules would be framed to make car horns sound like musical instruments.

"I have ordered all the carmakers to make horns using the sounds of musical instruments," he said.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated three ethanol pumps in Pune.

"I would like to ask you (Ajit Pawar) to take up the work of setting up multiple ethanol pumps in Pune as well as in western Maharashtra districts as it would help farmers and the sugar industry," he said.

Gadkari said Pune city has become

very congested and there was a need for its decentralisation.

"I would like to appeal Ajit Pawar to make Pune's air, water and sound pollution-free. I am constructing an expressway on the Pune-bengaluru highway. I would like to ask to buy land on both sides of the road and set up a new Pune city and connect it with the Metro rail and trains. Decentralisation is needed to get rid of congestion, traffic issue, and pollution," he added.