World Environment Day: Narendra Modi to interact with farmers, release road map for ethanol blending

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an event on World Environment Day on Saturday via video conferencing. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said he will also release the “Report of the Expert Committee on Road Map for ethanol blending in India 2020-2025”. “To commemorate the World Environment Day, the government is releasing E-20 notification directing oil companies to sell ethanol-blended petrol with the percentage of ethanol up to 20 from 1 April, 2023; and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) specifications for higher ethanol blends E12 and E15. These efforts will facilitate the setting up of additional ethanol distillation capacities and provide timelines for making blended fuel available across the country, the PMO said. It will help increase the consumption of ethanol in the ethanol-producing states and the adjoining regions, before 2025, it said. PM Modi will also launch a pilot project of E 100 dispensing stations at three locations in Pune, and interact with farmers to gain insight on their first-hand experience, as enablers under the Ethanol Blended Petrol and Compressed BioGas Programmes, the PMO said. The event is being jointly organised by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The theme for this year’s event is “promotion of biofuels for a better environment”.