Biofuel committee to be formed

PUNE: With an aim to implement the national biofuel policy, the State government has formed an eight-member committee, who will look after the successful implementation of the policy.

The committee members will include principal secretary of energy department, chief executive officer of MIDC, RTO commissioner, sugar commissioner, representatives of sugar factory, two experts from biofuel industry, representatives of companies working in biofuel industry and director of Maharashtra Energy Development Agency.

The committee members will work in coordination with the State government.

As per the national biofuel policy, the role and active participation of the states is crucial in the planning and implementation of biofuel programmes. 

Similarly, the State governments were asked to designate an existing agency, or create a new agency suitably empowered and funded to act as a nodal agency for the development and promotion of biofuels in their states.

As stated in the policy, petro-based oil meets about 95 per cent of the requirement for transportation fuels, and the demand has been steadily rising.

“Provisional estimates have indicated crude oil consumption in 2007-08 at about 156 million tonnes. The domestic crude oil is able to meet only about 23 per cent of the demand, while the rest is met from imported crude,” stated the policy.