Patna: Sensing an opportunity in Centre’s push for increasing Ethanol production, Bihar has drawn an ambitious plan for setting up manufacturing units for the green fuel.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar while inaugurating Varun Beverages Limited (VBL) bottling plant in Bihar’s eastern district, Begusarai, recently said, “After getting green signal from Centre, soon 17 Ethanol manufacturing units will be set up in Bihar. The ground work for the projects has begun.”
Signalling a ray of hope for further expansion, he said that the state was working to get clearance for kick starting more Ethanol units.
India at present manufactures 465 crore litre Ethanol. A study has said that in next five years the demand of the green would escalate to 4000 crore litre.
The VBL unit set up at the cost of Rs 320 crore at Begusarai is largest in eastern and north eastern India.
Bihar’s foray for setting up industrial units is getting a leg up with Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain taking the reigns of Industries Department.
Principal Secretary Industries, Government of Bihar, Sandeep Poundrik, IAS, in his tweet said that while the project cost of VBL unit was Rs 320 crore, “Expansion was planned”.
Before Nitish came to power in 2005, Bihar was a major sugarcane producing state, but owing to poor management and non commercial viability of sugar-manufacturing units many in north Bihar were closed.
The Centre’s push for Ethanol production augers well with Bihar’s plan for setting up the manufacturing units that would be complemented with its agri-based economy. “We see a huge potential in Ethanol, as Centre plans to set up Ethanol pumps and blending of petrol and diesel with the green fuel,” said a Bihar Industries Department official.
A government of India Food Department tweet on March 23 has predicted that “Diversion of sugar to Ethanol is likely to increase by more than 50% in the current sugar season 2021-22 as compared to the previous season. In the current sugar season 2021-22, about 35 LMT of sugar is estimated to be diverted as compared to 22 LMT in the previous season.”
Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari recently while addressing Sugar and Ethanol Conference 2022, had reiterated that the ‘demand of Ethanol was indefinite’.
He said India was working on several path breaking steps like flexy fuel engine options and Ethanol pumps. Three Ethanol pumps are already functional in Pune and the government has plans to open more.
