'Govt to bring out biofuel policy soon'

NEW DELHI: The government is working towards bringing out a national policy on biofuels soon, Planning Commission member S P Gupta has said.
At a CII seminar here, Gupta said the government was also exploring introduction of a 10 per cent blending of ethanol in a phased manner starting from four metros in the next couple of years and extending it to the whole country within 10 years, according to a CII release.
It will also introduce biodiesel in government-run vehicles on an experimental basis in four metros within 2-3 years and gradually extend it to other cities, he added.
Senior advisor, Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources, S K Chopra said there was a need to provide incentives to the industrial sector and farmers for increasing ethanol production and farming of petrocrops.
Incentives to use wasteland to develop biodiesel and support R&D institutions for developing suitable process development in biofuels are also part of other policy measures, he said adding that a National Biofuel Development Board Fund needed to be created.
While molasses for five per cent ethanol blending was available in adequate quantity at present, other options including the production of ethanol from sugarcane juice had to be developed, in order to meet the 10 per cent blending target, he said.