UP approves new biofuel policy

LUCKNOW: The Government of Uttar Pradesh has chosen to implement a bio-energy policy that will help in reducing consumption of fossil fuels and help boost the income of farmers in order to further its commitment to increase usage of biofuel. A proposal to create a new promotion policy of Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) was also adopted by the government during the Tuesday cabinet meeting. In a press conference, AK Sharma, Minister for Urban Development & Energy, stated that the state government was committed to finding a solution to the issue of burning agricultural waste (perali) in the fields.

Biofuel will be produced using organic waste, including agricultural waste, garbage from the agricultural produce market, waste from animals, waste from sugar mills, and waste from cities.

Under the Bio-Energy Enterprises Promotion Programme-2018, bio-energy enterprises received a 100 percent exemption from stamp duty on land purchases and a 100 percent refund of SGST for ten years starting from the day that production began.

The new policy will have a term of five years. The state will provide incentives for the installation of compressed biogas, biocoal, bioethanol, and biodiesel projects during this time. As per this policy, a subsidy would be provided for the production of compressed biogas at a cost of Rs 75 lakh per tonne up to Rs 20 crore maximum. For the manufacturing of biocoal, it will cost up to Rs. 75,000 per tonne, and for the creation of biodiesel, it would cost up to Rs. 3 lakh per kilolitre.