Alternative fuels: Gadkari for priority sector lending

NEW DELHI: Road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday made a case for extending priority sector lending facilities for entities engaged in production and business of alternative fuels such as bio-ethanol, CNG and LNG. He said this will help cut imports of fossil fuels.

“I will speak about the issue with the finance minister and RBI governor,” he said. Priority sector lending facility helps entities to obtain loans from banks on easier terms. The minister said the trial of bringing calorific value of ethanol at par with petrol by IOC was successful. He added that this will make the roll out of more ethanol-fuelled vehicles lucrative.

“There was a concern that one could cover less kilometres with one litre of ethanol compared to one litre of petrol. Now that issue is sorted out.” Gadkari said he will meet the IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and suggest to urge the telecom companies to run their mobile phone towers on ethanol-based generators rather than diesel-based ones.