‘Experimenting on 1.3bn people’: Priyank Kharge alleges excess ethanol blending

NEW DELHI: Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge on Saturday accused the Central government of misleading people over ethanol blending in petrol, alleging that reports from government-accredited laboratories showed ethanol content exceeding the limits announced by the Centre.Kharge also alleged that the ethanol-blending programme was being used to benefit companies linked to the families of Union ministers. He claimed that some laboratory reports had indicated blending levels of up to 35-40 per cent, while others showed 31 per cent."The Government of India is lying through its teeth to the people. Very clearly, they had said that it (ethanol) will not be blended beyond a certain capacity, but NABL reports have proved that the ethanol blending is crossing the permissible limits, or at least the set limits that the govt had proclaimed. It's up to 35%, 40% in some cases.