00:00Okay, let's move on to stories now from Karnataka.
00:03We've been seeing for the last many months a huge debate over ethanol blending.
00:08And now the Karnataka government has come out with an expose
00:11alleging that petrol samples that were collected across the state
00:15contained ethanol levels as high as 31.2%.
00:19Remember that currently in the markets, it's only at E20,
00:22which means 20% of ethanol.
00:24The Karnataka government says that when they conducted testing,
00:27it was actually at 31.2%.
00:30This test that the Karnataka government conducted found excess ethanol
00:34in samples from seven districts, including the city of Bengaluru.
00:38And so they've raised serious questions over fuel quality,
00:41over transparency and consumer safety,
00:43seeking answers from, in fact, the BJP on this.
00:47In all, according to the Karnataka government, 63 samples have been tested.
00:51They now plan to send their findings to the centre,
00:53seeking an immediate investigation and safeguards for consumers.
00:58This has led to also politics, with the Congress once again questioning
01:01what was the hurry for the rollout of E20,
01:04and also alleging that consumers are bearing the brunt.
01:10We started getting samples from different oil marketing companies and petrol banks.
01:17We drew around 63 samples, sent it to the same oil marketing companies,
01:22asked them various aspects of tests to be done,
01:25and one of the components of the test was,
01:28what is the percentage of ethanol you are blending?
01:30All 63 samples, the different oil marketing companies have dodged
01:34and not given us a specific answer for the percentage of ethanol blend.
01:39And when we got suspicious,
01:41we drew samples from different parts of the Karnataka again
01:44and sent it to private accredited, NABL accredited, ISO certified labs,
01:50and we found that up to 31.2% of ethanol is being blended
01:56by these oil marketing companies.
02:00Nagarjan Dwarkarnath is joining us live from Bengaluru with more details on this.
02:04This is extremely concerning, Naga,
02:06especially because already consumers have been worried about the impact
02:10of E20 on their vehicles.
02:12Now you've also got the Karnataka government suggesting
02:15that in all the samples that they collected,
02:17it was actually not E20, but technically E31.
02:21Has there been any clarification as the BGP in Karnataka responded?
02:27Karnataka has not responded to it because they don't have much information
02:31considering this is a union government subject.
02:34But what the Karnataka government has confirmed right now is
02:37they took 63 samples across seven districts, including Bangalore City,
02:41and sent them to the same oil company saying,
02:44give us the number of percentage of ethanol that is included in this fuel.
02:48But they didn't get the answer and it was very vaguely put up
02:51is what the government found in the reply given by the oil companies.
02:55And hence, they were not satisfied with the reply.
02:58They sent it to the private laboratories to get the number checked.
03:01And finally, it was found that it was not E20, but rather E31.2.
03:05That's the highest number of percentage of ethanol found in one sample.
03:09And it subsequently goes to 30%, 26%, 25%, 28%,
03:13depending on station, fuel station to fuel station.
03:16So ideally right now, it's nothing around to 20%.
03:20The government of Karnataka is writing an official report
03:22to the central government and the petroleum ministry
03:25asking questions as to how is it that fuel with blended ethanol of 30%
03:29being sold as E20 because car showrooms, car dealers, car manufacturers
03:33are of a stern opinion that their engines are not manufactured for E30 right now.
03:38And that's the reason why the government of Karnataka
03:40has taken this up very seriously.
03:43All right.
03:43Thanks very much, Nagarjo, for getting us those details.
03:45We'll await word really from the BJP, the central government of all this
03:49because the Karnataka government says that this is an expose of sorts
03:52that they've conducted in several districts across Karnataka,
03:56including in the city of Bengaluru.
