The Chhattisgarh government now wants the Central government to let it use excess rice the state holds to produce ethanol after an earlier request to utilize paddy for the same was rejected.
Chhattisgarh Food Secretary Dr Kamalpreet Singh has written to the Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, to grant permission to convert 4 lakh Metric Tonnes of rice to ethanol.
Dr Kamalpreet Singh said: “In a meeting of the National Biofuels Coordination Committee (NBCC) on April 20, approval was given to Food Corporation of India (FCI) to convert surplus rice to ethanol to make alcohol-based hand sanitizers and for the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme.”
He said that Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 10 and to NITI Aayog sought approval for using excess paddy available in the state for conversion into ethanol.
“The Central government denied permission for conversion of paddy. As the paddy cannot be kept for a longer period, it is mainly being converted into rice. With approval to FCI by NBCC, we are also seeking approval for conservation of 4 lakh MT excess rice,” he said.
