The Hindu : Hudco to finance co-generation projects

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 03, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Hudco to finance co-generation projects

By Our Staff Reporter

Bangalore Feb. 2. The Union Minister for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Ananth Kumar, said here on Sunday that Hudco had approved a proposal to finance co-generation projects for power supply or ethanol production to improve the economic condition of farmers. There was no limit for financing such projects, including sugar factories.

The minister was delivering the valedictory address of the two-day national seminar on non-edible vegetable oils as bio-fuels organised by six Union Government agencies, including his ministry, the Samarga Vikas, and SuTRA of the Indian Institute of Science.

He said his ministry would consider proposals seeking finance for projects promoting non-edible vegetable oils as bio-fuels. He said Hudco had a turnover of Rs.15,000 crores and made a profit of Rs.300 crores this financial year compared to the turnover of Rs. 8,100 crores and profit of Rs.120 crores last year. A sum of Rs.7,500 crores would be spent on providing urban infrastructure. A considerable portion of this would be utilised for research and related works on bio-fuels. He said the country imported Rs.90,000 crores worth of petroleum products. National security rested on fuel security, and hence there was a need for a debate on the serious issue of dependence on the Gulf for the country's fuel requirement. As much of 64 per cent of the petroleum products supplied in the country was from that region.

Dwelling on the Swadeshi and Videshi models of development, he said bio-fuels could give an answer to the problem. While the usage of petroleum products generated hydrocarbons and caused pollution, bio-fuels were eco-friendly and could boost the rural economy.

The minister wondered why the earlier governments had not thought of co-generation in sugar industry, although Brazil did it 50 years ago. Why India, with hundreds of sugar factories, did not think of blending ethanol with petrol? Likewise, "Hongamia" could also be used for power generation in rural areas. The Union Government had ordered use of ethanol in nine sugarcane-growing States.

He said planting of "Hongamia" and other species of trees for extracting bio-fuels could be taken up on the 1.5 lakh km. of roads built under the Prime Minister's Gram Sadak Yojana, 8,000 km. of the Golden Quadrilateral Project, along railway tracks, and on tank bunds and dry-land belts.

Criticising the earlier governments at the Centre, he said Rs.75,000 crores was wasted on Jammu and Kashmir by way of incentives and subsidies, and another Rs.1,20,000 crores given to industrialists had turned into non-performing assets. But the Vajpayee Government had given Rs.49,000 crores to farmers to bring about real development. A sum of Rs.19,000 crores was given to the States to distribute Kisan Credit Card to 3.5 crore farmers.

The Karnataka Minister of State for Rural Water Supply, K.B. Koliwad, presided over the function. Supporting Mr. Ananth Kumar's theme of rural development and programmes, he said the State would implement bio-fuel programmes in earnest.

He urged Mr. Ananth Kumar to come to the rescue of loss-making sugar factories and make them take up co-generation. He also made a request to revive sick spinning mills with money from the Rs.25,000-crore technology upgradation fund. Serious efforts must be made to help sugar mills sell their product, he added.

Vamanacharya, Trustee of Samarga Vikas, welcomed the gathering. T.V. Krishna Bhat of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, V. Balasubramaniam, former Additional Chief Secretary, Udupi Srinivasa of the IISc, and Y.V. Ramakrishna were present. K.V. Raju, who has done extensive research on the use of bio-fuels, urged the Centre and the governments of the States to take up the project seriously for speedy development of villages.

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