New 'larger' policy on ethanol blending in a month: Nitin Gadkari

Government will come out with a new 'larger' policy within a month to promote ethanol blending with petrol, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.

"We will come out with a larger policy on ethanol (blending) within a month," Gadkari said here at a conference on sustainability.

The government wants to increase the level of mandatory blending of ethanol with petrol to 10%. The current ceiling of blending is fixed at 5% but availability of ethanol and pricing issues have come in the way of achieving the target.

Stating that he has already discussed the matter with the Prime Minister, Gadkari said the new policy will seek to address a wider source of ethanol, including bio-wastes, over and above the main source sugar.

In December 2014, the Cabinet had approved usage of non-food feedstocks besides molasses as source of ethanol to be used for blending in fuel.

Stressing on the significance of promoting ethanol blending, the minister said: "One lakh buses can run on alternative fuel in the country. A large number of buses can run on ethanol in Delhi, UP and Bihar.