Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has been on the receiving end of criticism, as he has been advocating ethanol and ethanol-blended fuels for a long time. The government recently admitted that fuel efficiency will drop and that a few plastic and rubber components may get damaged in the long run if your vehicle is using E20 fuel. In a recent interview, Nitin Gadkari told the media that he would speak to the Petroleum Minister about offering customers a choice of E0 and E10 petrol.
The video has been shared by The Indograph on its Instagram page. The clip is actually an excerpt from an interview released by ABP News. In the video, we see anchor Megha Prasad asking questions about the ethanol blending policy and road infrastructure in the country.
During the interview, Nitin Gadkari spoke about ethanol blending policies in other countries. Brazil is one of the countries that he has frequently cited as an example. When the anchor asked the minister about the lack of consumer choice, he said that Brazil offers multiple fuel options to customers.
There are E20, E100, and pure petrol options available at petrol pumps in Brazil. The prices of these fuels also differ depending on the level of ethanol blending. So, a customer who wants pure petrol can fill up with that, while those who prefer blended fuel also have that option.
The anchor questioned why similar choices are not available to customers in India. In response, Gadkari said that he does not have the authority to make such a decision and that it falls under the jurisdiction of the Petroleum Minister. The anchor also asked whether he planned to discuss the matter with Hardeep Singh Puri.
In the interview, Gadkari said that he would discuss the issue with the Petroleum Minister but did not provide any timeline for when such a meeting would take place. He also told the anchor that she could ask Hardeep Singh Puri the same question about offering customers a choice of fuels during her next interview.
The Petroleum Ministry had recently confirmed that it has no plans to supply separate grades of petrol.
The government stated that maintaining separate supplies of E10, E20, and pure petrol across the country would be operationally impractical and economically inefficient.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas explained that implementing such a system would require parallel fuel supply chains across more than one lakh retail outlets, refineries, terminals, depots, and pipelines. According to the ministry, this would significantly increase the complexity of logistics, inventory management, and fuel handling while also raising operational costs. Whether the government will change its decision remains to be seen.
Ethanol-blended fuel was promoted as an alternative to reduce the country’s dependence on fuel imports. It was also claimed that ethanol blending would make petrol more affordable for customers. However, that has not happened. Consumers are still paying over ₹100 per litre for ethanol-blended petrol in many parts of the country, while reports suggest that petrol without ethanol is priced at around ₹170 per litre.
In the last couple of weeks, there has been growing public criticism of the government’s ethanol policy, and many vehicle owners have come forward claiming that E20 fuel has reduced the fuel efficiency of their vehicles and, in some cases, has also led to other issues.
Comments are closed.