Union members gathering ahead of the aborted protest in New Delhi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Around 100 members of the Delhi Taxi, Tourist Transporters and Tour Operators Association (DTTTTOA) held a protest in the national capital on Tuesday against the rollout of E20 (petrol blended with 20% ethanol). Members of the association raised concerns over reduced mileage, increased maintenance costs and impact on older vehicles due to E20.The association — Delhi’s largest umbrella organisation of transporters, representing app-based vehicles, taxis, buses, autos, etc. — had originally planned a march to Jantar Mantar, but had to abort it after being denied police permission. They turned towards Rajghat, where they encountered a heavy police presence and called off the march.Sanjay Samrat, the association president, said they submitted a detailed representation to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, seeking a review of the E20 fuel and a broader overhaul of transport regulations affecting commercial operators.While Mr. Gadkari had told Parliament on July 30 that E20 can reduce fuel economy by 2% to 6% depending on the vehicle category and vintage, the association in its memorandum reported mileage losses of up to 20% in older vehicles, substantially increasing fuel costs and squeezing already thin operating margins.‘Double blow’Baljinder Singh, a taxi service owner, claimed operators were suffering a double blow to their livelihoods from declining fuel efficiency and rising maintenance costs.“A vehicle that earlier ran 12 to 13 kilometres per litre now delivers a mileage of only 7 to 8 kilometres, spiking our costs. We can’t simply increase taxi fares because the competition is intense,” he said.Mr. Singh added, “Someone who has just invested in a vehicle cannot be expected to buy a flex-fuel vehicle again. If mileage is going down, so should the price of E20.”Flex-fuel vehicles have an engine designed to run on petrol blended with ethanol.Jitender Singh Bobby, who runs a tourist taxi service in south Delhi, echoed similar concerns. “Vehicles built to run on petrol should continue to get petrol. The engine performance of our vehicles has already deteriorated.”Mr. Bobby added, “Our customers, especially tourists, often expect us to reach destinations quickly, but the vehicles don’t accelerate as quickly as they used to, leaving the customers unhappy. Some of them have sometimes stopped using our services.”The association said it was not opposed to cleaner fuels but wanted a “balanced, scientific and technology-neutral” approach. Its primary demand is for petrol pumps to offer E0, E5 and E10 fuels alongside E20 so that owners of older vehicles are not compelled to use fuel that may not be compatible with their engines. Published - August 05, 2026 12:48 am IST
