Allegations work of powerful lobby hit by ethanol blending of petrol: Gadkari

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday refused to be pulled into a controversy over allegations against him with regard to ethanol blending alleging that it is work of a powerful import lobby upset by his decisions reported news agency PTISpeaking at a programme in Nagpur the minister likened himself to a tree that bears fruit and said I dont respond to such criticisms because then it becomes news The tree that bears fruit is the one people throw stones at It is better that we avoid itGadkari said the focus of his policy is to promote ethanol blending make farmers energy producers and reduce pollution PTI reportedHe claimed that the policy had directly hurt those with vested interests in fuel importsAbout Rs 22 lakh crore were going out of the country due to imports of fossil fuels Their businesses got affected and they got angry and started paid news against me the Union Minister stated adding I have not taken a single penny from any contractor till date and hence contractors fear merdquoHe also said that he would focus on his work and not get distracted by false allegations which are common and predictable part of politics PTI reportedPeople know what the truth isI have gone through such things many times in the past said the ministerCIAN Agro Industries a company run by Gadkarirsquos son Nikhil has been the centre of a controversy over dramatic rise in profits and revenues since the time the Bharatiya Janata Party BJPled government mandated 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrolThe company witnessed its revenue surge from Rs 1747 crore in the first quarter of financial year FY 24 to Rs 5108 crore Q1 FY26Profits too shot up from almost negligible levels to over Rs 52 crore largely riding the ethanol blending boom and expansion into new subsidiariesCIAN Agros share price also zoomed to Rs 2023 on the Bombay Stock Exchange BSE on Monday from Rs 172 a year agoAnalysts have said the growth is not only from ethanol sales but also from other income and new businessesLast week Gadkari had stated that the country should now gear up to export ethanol as India has met the target of 20 per cent blending in petrol and should sell the surplus production in the countryIt is the time for Indias futuristic development We need to reduce our imports and increase our exports As far as the surplus of ethanol it is now the requirement of the country that we need to export ethanol the minister said while addressing the 2nd International Conference and Exhibition on Bioenergy and Technologies held in New Delhi which highlighted Indiarsquos ethanol productionThe ethanol production in the country reached an annual production of approximately 1822 crore litres by June 30 With the governments Ethanol Blended with Petrol EBP programme actively promoting increased production to meet its 20 per cent blending target for the Ethanol Supply Year ESY 202526The production majorly relies on both molasses sugarcanebased and grain maize rice feedstocksIn the ongoing ESY 202425 an average of 1905 per cent ethanol blending was achieved as on July 31The minister further highlighted Brazils pioneering role in ethanol and stressed that India too is rapidly scaling up He cited the success of cornbased ethanol which raised farmer incomes significantlyWith PTI inputs