Dst Under Pressure To Review ash' Rejection Of Herbal Fuel

The department of science and technololgy has come under pressure to review its statement on Ramar Pillai's herbal petrol following a demonstration by him in Hyderabad yesterday, where he refuted DST's explanation that he had emptied petrol from a stirrer into a water-filled vessel.

DST secretary V Ramamurthy held talks with senior scientists to discuss the issue, apparently to find a way out of the embarrassing position it has found itself in.

In the demonstration, Pillai used a transparent glass stirrer to prove the DST wrong. Earlier this week, Ramamurthi had dubbed Pillai a hoax for filling a stirrer with petrol and surreptiously emptying it into his vessel of boiling water and herbs.

 

Later in the day, the secretary answered queries from members of the Parliamentary consultative committee, who were keen on witnessing a demonstration by Pillai.

Ramamurthy produced results of analysis of the liquid, which showed the herbal petrol contained certain residues which could come only from an oil refinery and it was too much of a coincidence if it came from a tree.

There has been no official comment from the DST. Sources say the department has been pulled up by the Prime Minister's Office for rushing to reject Pillai's patent claim without fully satisfying itself that the herbal petrol was a hoax beyond doubt.

It was the PMO which had ordered the DST to test the herbal petrol following a petition by Pillai to Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.

In the Hyderabad demonstration, Pillai produced 250 ml of fuel from 400 ml of water, 100 gm of herbs, lemon, salt and secret chemicals. In order to prove the DST assertion wrong, Pillai got much of the experiment done by members of the public. He said he only used five drops of petrol to act as a catylst.

Pillai said the first result of the burning process was crude oil, upon heating to 150 degrees centigrade petrol is obtained, kerosene at 250 degrees centigrade and diesel, if heated beyond that.

Even though DST has rejected Pillai's claim, both the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu governments have offered land for setting up herbal petrol production plants.

Pillai himself wants to set up the plant in his hometown Rajapalaym in Tamil Nadu. He already has the support of the state Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who too has not been happy about the department's stand on Pillai's patent claim.