Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, and Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India, Shri Hardeep S. Puri, in the gracious presence of Chief Minister of Assam, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma and Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Labour and Employment, Government of India, Shri Rameswar Teli, will preside over a run-up event to the India Energy week (IEW) 2023  in Guwahati today.

Beginning his visit to Guwahati with the inauguration of the iconic NRL Centre – the Corporate Office Building of Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) in the heart of Guwahati,  Union Petroleum  Minister will grace the IEW event at Hotel Vivanta. He will interact with the farmers who are supplying bamboo on a sustainable basis to Assam Bio-Refinery, the first of its kind 2G Bio Refinery with bamboo biomass as feedstock is being implemented by Numaligarh Refinery Limited.

Henceforth, the Ministers will flag off a fleet of EV scooters by BIKOZEE, a hyper-local logistic Start-up supported by NRL. The Start-up aims to empower and equip economically marginalized communities with a range of job opportunities in the hyperlocal delivery sector. As an eco-friendly venture, Bikozee consists of an electric mobility option to combat environmental factors such as climate changes, unplanned urbanization and increasing pollution rates. It aims for a carbon emission-free world using renewable energy only.

After that, the dignitaries will witness the signing of an MoU between NRL and the Government of Assam to set up three bamboo nurseries. Each nursery will cover an area of five hectares to accomplish secondary hardening of tissue-cultured bamboo saplings and increase the number of saplings using macro proliferation methods. The three nurseries will be set up in Golaghat, Nagaon and Sonitpur in Assam.

Bamboo cultivation brings out several societal benefits and is therefore known as "Green Gold". During its growth, bamboo absorbs CO2 from the air and releases O2 into the air. As bamboo grows very fast, it is an excellent means to create a carbon sink. One hectare of bamboo plantation can absorb 17 tonne CO2 from the air per annum. The three bamboo nurseries will generate saplings that can be planted on 15,000 hectares of land area, thus will create a carbon sink that will fix 2.6 Lakh tonne CO2 from the air/ Year.

IEW 2023 is the first major event held under India's G20 Presidency; India Energy Week follows the Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pledge at COP26 to cut India's emissions to net zero by 2070. Held under the patronage of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India, India Energy Week is the only all-encompassing international energy event supported at the highest level of the Indian government, with participation from all the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), and officially supported by the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI).

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RKJ/M