Bihar seeks higher ethanol purchase quota from Centre amidst factory concerns

Patna: The state govt has written to the Centre to increase its ethanol purchase quota from Bihar, and deputy CM Samrat Choudhary will take up the issue with the Centre during his Delhi visit, industries minister Dilip Jaiswal said on Monday.Jaiswal was replying to MLAs cutting across the party lines who raised the issue of ethanol factories struggling for survival in the state as the Centre has allegedly reduced the quota of purchase.The issue was raised during Question Hour in legislative assembly by JD(U) MLA Shyam Rajak, BJP’s Rajnish Kumar and Jibesh Kumar, and RJD’s Kumar Sarvajeet, who expressed concerns over reports that many ethanol factories were on the verge of closure.Jaiswal, however, denied the reports. “It’s a misleading propaganda that ethanol factories are closing. Under the leadership of CM Nitish Kumar, we have provided Rs 1,700 crore as incentive money to the industries, and the ethanol factories being mentioned on social media have also claimed the incentives,” Jaiswal claimed.Responding to the questions, Jaiswal said the Centre had signed an MoU for purchase of only 35.28 crore litres of ethanol from Bihar, which is producing over 50 crore litres monthly.He, however, admitted that due to oil companies’ logistics problems like warehousing facility, they reduced their quota.JD(U) MLA Rajak warned that if the situation did not improve, factories could close, potentially impacting employment on a large scale.The MLAs asked if the govt will negotiate with the petroleum companies to buy the surplus ethanol produced in the state, which has now increased its maize production.