The Congress on Monday staged protests at several petrol bunks across Bengaluru, alleging that ethanol was being blended with petrol beyond the prescribed 20 per cent limit. The party demanded that the Centre immediately suspend the ethanol blending programme.
Party workers, led by leader S Manohar, held demonstrations at Nehru Circle and other places, including in front of Mantri Mall in Malleswaram. They displayed posters and sought to make motorists aware of the alleged excess blending.
The protesters claimed that what was being promoted as E20 was actually ‘E420’, a reference to deception in the name of ethanol blending. They alleged that petrol samples tested by the Karnataka government showed ethanol content of 21 to 30 per cent, and that some claims put it above 35 per cent.
Manohar alleged that the laboratory findings had exposed the extent of the blending, and said the Congress had been raising the issue for long.
“Rahul Gandhi (LoP in the Lok Sabha) had already warned that this programme would cause difficulties to consumers and demanded its withdrawal. He had said ethanol blending should be restricted to 20 per cent,” he said.
The party demanded that motorists be supplied fuel strictly in accordance with the prescribed specifications and accused the Narendra Modi-led government of “betraying consumers”.
The Congress alleged that excessive ethanol blending was reducing vehicle mileage and damaging engines and spare parts, resulting in financial losses for motorists. It called for an investigation and demanded that petrol be supplied without ethanol blending.
The party claimed that the alleged excess blending was happening at the distributor level and not at individual petrol bunks, and that the protests were meant to alert consumers.
Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has raised concerns over the issue, while Minister Rizwan Arshad said he would release documents in this regard.
Arshad, the minister for Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Legal Metrology, said the state government had followed the prescribed sampling and testing procedures. He challenged the oil marketing companies (OMCs) to explain the actual ethanol content in the 63 samples collected from petrol pumps across the state.
BJP MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraj Wadiyar accused the Congress of raising the ethanol issue to divert public attention from rising prices.
Speaking in Mysuru, he said the issue had already been discussed, and it had become clear that the allegations were not true. “The Central government had provided a complete explanation on the matter,” he said.
Dismissing the claims of vehicle damage, he said the allegations that engines would be damaged and vehicles would stop functioning were false. “Now, to cover up the issue of price rise, they are making these allegations and trying to put some other issue concerning the BJP or the Central government on the front page of newspapers. The focus should be on the price rise,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)