UP CM urged to allow state buses to run on ethanol

Lucknow, July 25 (IANS) Apex industry lobby Assocham has urged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to allow all state-run buses to move on from oil-based fuel to alternative and environment-friendly fuel like ethanol.

"Uttar Pradesh is India's largest producer of ethanol for blending with petrol after Maharashtra. The state should promote use of cleaner-burning fuel from sugarcane as the move would result in twin benefits of reducing dependence on crude oil imports and carbon-emissions," Assocham National Secretary General D.S. Rawat said on Tuesday.

Second generation (2G) ethanol can be made using all types of agricultural residues like bagasse (cane-waste), rice and wheat straw, bamboo, cotton stalk, corn stover, wood chips and others.

Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari also had talked about a similar idea to the Chief Minister, Rawat said.

"I had proposed to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister to promote use of ethanol as an alternate fuel in all types of bus services in the state, be it within cities or regional transport from district to district as UP leads India in ethanol production," Gadkari had said at an Assocham conference 'India on cusp of logistics revolution' in New Delhi on July 13.

Assocham has also urged the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister to accord priority to improving the condition and use of public transport to discourage the people from using their own vehicles as that would help reduce traffic/congestion on roads, reduce the number of road accidents and considerably bring down rising pollution levels across the state.

"Even the Union government is laying thrust upon the use of electric vehicles and green fuel like ethanol and is vigorously working towards promoting the use of cost-effective, import-substitute, pollution-free and indigenous technology," said Rawat.

"Such an initiative would not only help reduce pollution but will in turn promote industrial development, bring down logistics costs, generate employment, increase economic growth and boost exports," he added.

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