Of RSS Swadeshi Scam and Ramar Pillai
Sid Harth
RSS takes over Ramar’s swadeshi herbal petrol
Express News Service
Chennai, Dec 22: Ramar Pillai today disowned his responsibility of
getting the patent for his famous ‘herbal fuel’ by handing it over to
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
RSS Chennai Sangh-Chalak and leading lawyer S Sampath Kumar said the
application for the patent had been made by Pillai, his friend Venudevi
and two chemistry professors H V Jambekar and S G Jyotishi.
He also hoped that the patent application would be duly considered. The
RSS would then decide on the formalities for the manufacture and
marketing of the ‘herbal fuel’, he added.
He said that the RSS higher-ups and scientists were convinced with the
composition of the fuel.They stressed that there was no trace of
petroleum products like benzene in the fuel.
Sampathkumar denied the allegation of the CBI that the composition of
the fuel violated the Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel Order. ‘‘ CBI
had wrongly concluded that the fuel had petroproducts in it,’’ he said.
Stating that the RSS took up the matter for reasons of ‘national
interest’, Sampath Kumar said that government agencies would be given
the preference. Since the fuel is a herbal one (Sampathkumar himself
had said that he himsef had done a test in the RSS premises), it would
be viable to produce it on a large scale and thus reduce the dependency
of the country on the rest of the word for our petroeum needs,’’
Sampathkumar said. And all the dealers, whom Pillai had signed up with,
woud be paid in full, he added.
Responding to questions from the press about the authenticity of the
fuel, he said tests were done with a negative bent of mind. He produced
two copies of a letter from two scientists saying that they had used
the formula to produce the fuel in Go-vigyan Anusandhan Kendra. They
used it on a Bajaj scooter and Hero Honda vehicle and found that it had
lower carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emission than petrol. ‘‘It even
gave more mileage,’’ the scientists claimed in the letter.
Ramar Pillai claimed that he had handed over his formula to the RSS
since he believed it was the only organisation working for the nation’s
interest. ‘‘Others tried to sell my formula to foreign countries,’’ he
added.
It may be recalled though there was an euphoria about Ramar Pillai’s
invention. Later, the discovery was disputed by the scientists. He
demonstrated the efficacy of his fuel before Chief Minister M
Karunanidhi, but he failed during an attempt at the Chennai IIT.
However, Ramar Pilai started selling the fuel at Rs 19 per litre at the
rate of 200 litres per day, after procuring a licence from the State
government. On March 12, 2000, he was arrested by the CBI suspecting
his fuel to be just ‘linear alky benzene’.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
--
http://www.indiacyberportal.com/index.html
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/