Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to allow the state to produce ethanol from surplus paddy.
In his letter, Baghel said that at present the sale of surplus paddy available in the Food Corp of India (FCI) has been allowed to produce ethanol, an official communication said.
In Chhattisgarh, every year paddy is bought from farmers at a support price. After the requirement of the public distribution system and paddy to the FCI, six lakh tonnes of surplus paddy is saved annually, putting needless burden on the state's economic resources.
Baghel informed the Prime Minister that bio-fuels are included in the list of high priority industries in the state's new industrial policy. A special incentive package for bio-fuel industries has been announced.
An MoU has also been signed with four private investors to set up a bio-ethanol plant.
The Chief Minister said that in the last 18 months, efforts have been made by the Chhattisgarh government to allow production of bio-ethanol from the excess paddy produced in the state towards the National Bio-fuels Policy, 2018 and its goal.
In the April 20 meeting of the National Bio-fuels Coordination Committee, permission has been granted to sell surplus paddy available in FCI for producing ethanol.
The Chief Minister urged the Prime Minister to instruct the Ministry of Natural Gas to provide permission to Chhattisgarh to produce ethanol from the estimated surplus six lakh tonnes of paddy purchased on the support price every year.