Look forward to day when aircraft will be fuelled by bio ATF made in Maharashtra: Nitin Gadkari
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced the establishment of an 88,000-tonne bio aviation fuel plant by Indian Oil Corporation, aiming to make biofuel cheaper than petroleum alternatives. He also discussed expanding ethanol-driven vehicles and CNG projects, including 400 ethanol stations and a CNG plant in Bhandara. Additionally, Gadkari laid the foundation for a major organic produce market in Nagpur.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari highlighted the development of bio aviation fuel in India, mentioning that the Indian Oil Corporation now has a plant producing 88,000 tonnes annually. He also noted plans for ethanol-driven vehicles and CNG projects. Gadkari aims to make bio aviation fuel more affordable and envisions its use at Nagpur’s international airport.
Nitin Gadkari announced the establishment of an 88,000-tonne bio aviation fuel plant by Indian Oil Corporation and plans for ethanol-driven vehicles NAGPUR: Union minister Nitin Gadkari said that earlier when he would say aircraft can run on bio aviation fuel, even his associates won’t believe him, but now what he dreamt has come true. “The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has a plant with a capacity of 88,000 tonnes a year to make sustainable bio aviation turbine fuel (ATF),” said Gadkari adding he has already tripled the production of ethanol at his facilities to 6 lakh litres.
Now, he looks forward to the day when an aircraft would land at the international airport in Nagpur and filled with bio ATF made with material supplied by Vidarbha’s farmers.“Bio aviation fuel would be cheaper than the petroleum ATF. I have taken up the challenge to provide cheap bio ATF and am working on it. I pursued the idea with the IOC chairman till it was ready.” A senior official in IOC independently told TOI that a bio fuel facility is coming up at Panipat.
The minister said he has also asked bosses of the automobile industry like Rajiv Bajaj and Venugopal Srinivasan (TVS) to direct their dealers to sell ethanol-driven two-wheelers right at the retail outlets where the fuel is sold. “Now IOC has set up 400 ethanol filling stations across the country. The idea is to directly sell the vehicles there through the dealers,” said Gadkari. “Last month I launched a CNG run scooter and motorbike made by Bajaj. It’s the world’s first,” he said.
“I am also coming up with a project to make CNG from rice straw in Bhandara, which is expected to be operational in a month. Across the country, 400 such projects are being built ,” he said.Gadkari, who laid the foundation stone of a centre by Agrovision Foundation, a farmers’ NGO patronised by him, said the centre will have what is expected to be the biggest market for organic and natural farm produce in the country.
“There will be separate sections for food grains and fruits-vegetables. Farmers will be able to directly sell the produce without any middleman,” he said.“Work on the agriculture produce market is expected to start in a month’s. The approvals have been secured from NMC and also the residential society close by where even I have a flat,” he said.The market would be coming up off Wardha Road. He also reiterated plans to operate an electric bus around the ring road. Work on an agricultural convention centre at the Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyalaya’s land is also expected to start in a month, he said.
