BJP demands mixing of sugar cane ethanol with petrol

New Delhi, Jun 14 (UNI) Senior BJP leader Ram Naik today met Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora urging him to implement the government decision that will allow mixing of Ethanol with petrol not only to save foreign exchange for the country but also pay better prices for the sugar cane farmers.

Mr Naik, himself a former Petroleum Minister, told newspersons here that the government should have allowed mixing of ethnanol extracted from sugar cane upto 10 per cent by 2005 but, under pressure from liquor barons, it was not allowing this to happen. The farmers could be provided returns for ethanol extraction the prices paid for petroleum crude in international market.

Brazil, was allowing ethanol mixing upto 32 per cent for use in petrol driven vehicles, Mr Naik noted.

He said the previous NDA regime had allowed five per cent mixing of ethanol in nine states and was to be extended throughout the country but the previous Pertroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar had buckled under pressure from liquor producers.

During the meeting, Mr Naik also urged Mr Deora to correct the injustice caused to a figure like freedom fighter and RSS leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar whose poems were removed from the Veer Jyoti at Cellular Jail at Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Last time when Mr Aiyar removed the quotes, his entry for Mumbai was banned and Mr Deora, who hailed from Mumbai, should correct injustice caused to a historic figure like Savarkar, he said.

Mr Naik also urged the minister to fund the beautification of important historic sites including Quatab Minar, Khajuraho, Konark temple, Hampi ruins by a trust headed by Indian Oil Corporation which would earmark Rs 10 crore from its profits each year.

UNI