CM unhappy over oil cos not buying ethanol

He expressed his unhappiness during his meeting with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora at Mantralaya, the state government's headquarters here.

The central government has issued directives to buy the ethanol at Rs 21.30 per litre. But the petroleum companies are insisting on buying ethanol only after competitive bidding, to which ethanol manufacturers are opposed, sources in the chief minister's office said.

There are about 77 ethanol manufacturing units in the state with a capacity to produce 850 million litres of ethanol per annum. Out of these 77 units, 55 have been set up by the sugar co-operatives, which are mostly controlled by the Congress and NCP politicians.

Even if they buy ethanol at the rate determined by the central government, the petroleum companies will save a lot of money as the prices of crude oil have skyrocketed. And this would also help the farmers earn a few more bucks as they are the shareholders of the sugar co-operatives that have set up ethanol manufacturing units, the CM pointed out.

In the meeting, Deora assured the CM that a meeting of the petroleum companies would be called to sort out the issue at the earliest.