CORRESPONDENT
AGARTALA: The Tripura Pradesh Congress has expressed grave concern over the Central Government's ethanol blending policy, alleging that it encourages farmers to switch from foodgrain cultivation to crops meant for fuel production on land currently used to produce food grains. The party said the policy may endanger the country's food security in the future.
Prabir Chakraborty, spokesperson of the Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee, said the Central Government's claim that rising demand for ethanol would benefit farmers could not be viewed in isolation from the question of food security. He said that if large tracts of land currently used for foodgrain production were diverted to the cultivation of crops used as raw material for fuel, the long-term impact on food production would require serious consideration.
The statement also raised concerns over water usage in ethanol production, citing reports of significant water consumption during manufacturing, and said this required careful review given the growing water crisis in several parts of the country.
The Pradesh Congress said it was not opposed to alternative fuels or farmers' development, but could not support a policy that increased the financial burden on the public without a satisfactory answer as to who its real beneficiaries were.
The party demanded that the Centre release a white paper detailing the economic, environmental and technical impact of the ethanol blending policy and hold a transparent, nationwide discussion before proceeding further.
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