Rs 500 cr plant to produce ethanol from crop residue: Pradhan

Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today announced a new plant to produce ethanol to be set up in Bathinda with an outlay of Rs 500 crore.
The minister said that the foundation stone of the plant will be laid in the next 15 days.
Pradhan, while addressing gathering in Ludhiana, said this plant will convert the paddy residue into ethanol and said that this will not only provide an additional income to the farmers but also save the state from the pollution created by the stubble burning.
Pradhan, who was on a day-long tour in Punjab, said that he would himself lay the foundation stone of the plant.

Speaking on this occasion, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal said the plant at a cost of Rs 500 crore which would be established at Bathinda with assistance with the Union ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, would make bio-fuel from the residue of paddy crop.
Terming it as a remarkable initiative, Sukhbir said that this would put a stop to the burning of paddy which in turn would lead to reduction of pollution level in the environment.

Divulging more, he said that the stress would be on establishing these plants in every district in league with the private players and the modalities would be worked out soon. He also said that this unique measure would also result in the farmers getting richer by Rs 3,000-4,000 per acre.

Union minister on this occasion, symbolically distributed free LPG connections to 12 women belonging to BPL and SC / ST families.
He also said that all the remaining LPG connections will be allotted to the consumers of Punjab in the next 50 days. Thus Punjab will be the first state in the country having hundred per cent cooking gas connections .
Addressing the gathering, the Deputy Chief Ministersaid
that modern cooking stoves (chullahs) would be given free of cost by the Punjab government to the BPL families. Disclosing more, he said that by December, 2016 all BPL families would be covered under this initiative.

While interacting with the media, Badal lauded the de-monetization decision taken by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that this would definitely put a stop to the black money.
Pradhan said that the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana aims at providing, 5 crore LPG connections to BPL households pan India in three years. The PMUY scheme is aimed at replacing the polluting cooking fuels mostly used in rural India with more clean and efficient LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas).
Pradhan also said that over 1 crore LPG connections have been released under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in a short span of six months since its launch on May 1, 2016 at Balia, Uttar Pradesh.

Pradhan further said that the government aims to provide LPG connections to all the BPL families of Punjab by December 31, 2016, with the help of state government.
He said that government will set up units for generating fuel by recycling agricultural waste "Pareli" in various districts of Punjab like Bhatinda, Patti, Amritsar to name a few.
He said that setting up of such units will generate new employment opportunities in the state and will also help in reducing pollution as the agricultural waste will not be burnt.
Over 2,000 women from BPL families were handed over LPG connections during the function out of which 10 Women from BPL families were handed over LPG connections by the dignitaries from the dais.