Working on refinery for aviation fuel from bamboo, says Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and MSME Nitin Gadkari has said that he was working on an idea to set up a refinery for the production of aviation fuel from bamboo grown in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district.

"I am planning to set up a bio-refinery for the production of aviation fuel. The bamboo for this will be sourced from Gadchiroli district. I have begun work on this and in two to three years, I will show you flights running on this biofuel," he said while addressing an event via video conference.

He also called for more intensive use of bamboo resources and asked the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) to formulate a comprehensive ''Bamboo Policy''. He also suggested making available more incentives to bamboo production, processing, and handling and said this will go a long way in developing the bamboo-based industry.

Emphasising on the production of high-yielding bamboo varieties, he said, for industrial use, bamboo yield should be 200 tonnes per acre against about 40 tonnes per acre in the case of some varieties. The greater yield and wider bamboo usage will open up more employment generation especially in the north-eastern region.

He said that bamboo sticks may be reduced to bales so that moisture is removed thereby making transportation easier and cheaper and increasing its calorific value. He suggested IITs may be roped in to undertake a pilot project in this regard.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh, Ministry of DoNER and North Eastern Council is taking all measures for tapping bamboo resources and technical know-how at the all-India level.

He informed that the ministry had already decided to develop three Bamboo Clusters in Jammu, Katra and Samba areas for the making of bamboo basketry, 'agarbatti' and bamboo charcoal as well as setting up of Bamboo Technology Centre.