Expedite acquisition of land: Harsimrat to petroleum minister

BATHINDA:UNION food processing industries minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday requested petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan to intervene and ask the Punjab government to expedite the process of acquisition of additional land for the proposed bioethanol plant to be set up at Nasibpura village in Bathinda district’s Talwandi Sabo subdivision.

In a letter to Pradhan, the Bathinda MP said the ₹600 crore project was in limbo for three years due to the lackadaisical attitude of the Congress government in acquiring and providing the land to the implementing agency.

She said the project was envisaged to resolve the issue of disposal of paddy stubble and mitigate the pollution caused due to burning of straw.

“It will not only help the farmers of the area who will get a ready market for their stubble but also thousands of youth who will be provided employment in the unit. The plant would produce around 100 kilolitres of ethanol everyday besides yielding bio-cng which could be used as fuel for cooking and vehicles and bio-fertiliser,” the minister said.

The then deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal along with Harsimrat had laid the foundation stone of the project in December 2016.