Anti-E20 campaign was paid to target me politically: Nitin Gadkari

Need to promote vehicle scrapping, have asked PM, FM for GST sops

A day after criticising the “petroleum lobby” over the 20 per cent ethanol-blended petrol (E20) controversy, Union Road Transport 

and Highways Minister  Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said a paid social media campaign was launched to target him politically.

“The way your industry works, so does politics.  

The social media campaign was paid — it was against ethanol and it was done  to target me politically. There is no fact in it; everything is clear. (Ethanol blending is) import substitute, cost-effective, pollution-free, and indigenous,” the minister said at the annual convention of Society of Indian  Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) in New Delhi.

 

Gadkari said automobile manufacturers and organisations, such as the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), had already made clear their findings on  ethanol blending in petrol. 

 

The minister added that the Supreme Court was approached on the matter, and it had been clarified on the judicial front.

 

The minister has been in the middle of a political storm over the past month, as several vehicle owners claim that E20 petrol, which was the only petrol available at several petrol pumps, was causing fuel tank erosion and reduced mileage, even more so for vehicles that are not E20-compliant. 

Both Gadkari and the oil ministry have officially defended the E20 policy, saying that the alternative of reverting to E0 petrol would involve losing the hard-fought gains on pollution control and energy transition. 

“The inter-ministerial committee’s road map has been in the public domain since 2021, and there is a laid-out calibrated path to E20 adoption. In the past four years, vehicle technology has improved, supply chains calibrated and an ecosystem developed,” the petroleum ministry had said in August. 

In June, Gadkari had said the programme was already progressing further, and ARAI had been asked to examine the feasibility of E27 petrol. 

“We took the decision to produce ethanol from maize. As a result, maize cultivation across the country has tripled,” he said at the Siam event, adding that farmers have gained around ₹45,000 crore from this move. 

“India’s agricultural growth rate has traditionally been low. Diversifying agriculture into the energy and power sectors directly benefits farmers and strengthens the economy. There is nothing wrong with it,” he added. 

On the back of the slew of goods and services tax (GST) reforms announced earlier this month, the minister said the government was considering more tax benefits to promote cleaner vehicles. 

“As of August, 300,000 vehicles have been scrapped, including 141,000 government vehicles. However, around 9.7 million vehicles should have been scrapped. The other day, I requested the Prime Minister and finance minister that to promote vehicle scrapping, there should be some thought on providing relief on GST for those who buy a new vehicle against the scrapping of an old vehicle at a registered facility,” Gadkari said.