"Uttar Pradesh is India's largest producer of ethanol for blending with petrol after Maharashtra. As such, the state should promote use of cleaner-burning fuel from sugarcane as the move would result in twin benefits of reducing dependence on crude oil imports and carbon emissions," Assocham national Secretary General, D S Rawat, said in a release here today.
Second generation (2G) ethanol can be made using all types of agricultural residues like bagasse (cane-waste), rice and wheat straw, bamboo, cotton stalk, corn stover, wood chips and others.
"I had proposed to the UP chief minister to promote use of ethanol as an alternative fuel in all types of bus services in the state, be it within cities or regional transport from district to district, as UP leads India in ethanol production," Gadkari had said at an Assocham conference in New Delhi recently.
Additionally, the body has appealed to the chief minister to give priority to improving the condition and use of public transport to discourage people from using their own vehicles as that would help reduce traffic and congestion on roads, accidents and the rising pollution level across the state.
"Such an initiative would not only help reduce pollution, but will promote industrial development, bring down logistics costs, generate employment, increase economic growth and boost exports," he added.