India promotes biofuels

In an effort to promote biofuels as an alternative to petroleum products, the Indian government has identified 6,400 hectares of degraded land in the eastern districts of the state for planting biofuel saplings. Chairman of the Taskforce on Biofuels Y.B. Ramakrishna told reporters that in Mysore district, the plantation will be done in 300 hectares. Of 6,400 hectares, biofuel saplings will be planted in 3,100 hectares of the forest degraded land by involving 96 village forest committees (VFC) under the National Rural Employment guarantee scheme. The remaining 3,300 hectares of the waste lands will be covered by biofuel species with involvement of 52 VFCs under the special development projects. In all, there are plans to bring more than 100,000 hectares under the project in three years, said Ramakrishna. (July 23, 2009)