Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday told Parliament that the government had tested older vehicles running fuel blended with 20% ethanol and found no case of engine failure .

The vehicles covered almost 1 lakh km in the tests conducted by the government-run Automotive Research Association of India, the road transport minister told the Lok Sabha.

The Union government’s Ethanol Blending Programme mandates the sale of petrol blended with 20% ethanol, or E20 fuel. A report in October, which analysed government and industry data, said that only about 20% of new petrol vehicles sold in India in the last 15 years were compliant with the E20 fuel blend .

Consumers have complained that the new fuel mix damages engines and reduces their mileage.

Gadkari said that the rese

See Full Page