Union Minister accused of lobbying for ethanol blending

06-Sep-2025 12:08 PM

New Delhi. The Media and Publicity Department of Congress has accused the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister of doing tremendous lobbying for the ethanol blending policy and said that this is definitely and clearly a matter of personal interest because the minister's two sons are the two major suppliers of ethanol.

The Congress media in-charge cited the Highways Minister's claim of the year 2018 in which it was said that the ethanol blending program will help in bringing the price of diesel in the country to Rs 50 per liter and the price of petrol to Rs 55 per liter.

Instead of this, the media in-charge said that drivers have to pay more for petrol and diesel, the problem of breakdown in vehicles is increasing and some other difficulties are also coming up.

After ethanol blending, the price of diesel and petrol should have come down significantly, but till now there is no sign of this.

Not only this, but 3000 liters of water is needed to produce one liter of ethanol. According to the media chairman of Congress, the price of petrol was Rs 71.41 per liter in the year 2014, which increased to Rs 94.77 per liter in the year 2025. Similarly, the price of diesel also jumped from Rs 55.49 per liter to Rs 87.67 per liter.

The media chairman, while revealing the personal interests of the Road Transport Minister, said that the elder son of the minister is the owner of a company which is the main supplier of ethanol. Similarly, the second son is also the director of a firm engaged in ethanol production.

The revenue of the first company was Rs 18 crore in June 2024, which jumped to Rs 523 crore in June 2025. The target of mixing 20 percent ethanol in petrol has been achieved before the scheduled time, which is surprising.