Nagpur is set to be the first city in the country where 100% ethanol-fuelled bus would ply on a pilot basis. Government sources said the bus, which has already reached India, would be launched in the city in next 2-3 weeks.
Strangely, municipal commissioner Shyam Wardhane, leader of ruling party (BJP) in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation Pravin Datke and the operator of the Starbus service were aware of any such move.
Saying there are no immediate plans to ply ethanol-based buses, Wardhane said that surface transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari had advised the NMC to generate ethanol from sewage treatment plants to be set up at many places. "We also don't have any ethanol filling stations," he added.
Sanket Pande, the GM of Vansh Nimay Infraproject which operates the Starbus service, too said that Gadkari had in the past advised them to opt for a cheaper fuel like ethanol. "But, presently, we have no plans to ply buses using it," he said.
Gadkari has always championed the need for the use ethanol as a fuel for vehicles. He had recently pushed the need of importing engines that can run on 85% blending of ethanol in the country. Sources said the Scandinavian commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania made a presentation in the ministry recently to explore the possibility of plying such bus.
The company had said that two more such buses would soon reach India from Stockholm, officials said. Earlier Scania had proposed to introduce similar buses in Bengaluru, but it could not happen.
Since ethanol-based buses can ply only in areas where enough ethanol is available, the government will explore to start such services in manageable areas such as within cities. Towns and cities in major sugar producing states such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab are likely to be the options for starting such experiments.
The Gadkari-promoted Purti Power and Sugar Limited (PPSL) is also engaged in the manufacture of ethanol. PPSL has often supported the idea of increasing the ethanol proportion to be blended in petrol to 10% at least. Ethanol is not just a clean, but the cost of the fuel is also less.
The PPSL's plant at Bela, 40 kms from Nagpur, has a facility to make ethanol out of molasses and is currently supplying it to the PSU oil companies. It has plans to set up a bio-waste ethanol plant too. The new plant may have a capacity of to make 15,000 litres of ethanol a day.
Soon after taking charge of the road transport ministry, Gadkari had said, "I have asked the department to study whether the five big companies — Volkswagen, Ford, Toyota, Honda and Fiat — can import E85 engine here, like they do in Brazil and Canada." E85 engines can run with 85% blending of ethanol.
TOI had earlier reported how the government is once again trying to ride on the back of the auto sector to pull the sugar industry out of the slump, which has been induced by a bumper cane harvest.
Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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