India was taking serious steps to promote alternative technologies that used bio-fuels and solar and wind energy, a senior official said Saturday.

India also has plans to produce more bio-fuels and electric vehicles to save petrol for other vital needs, Sohail Akhtar, director in the ministry of new and renewable energy, said.Presently 35 percent of petrol-based fuels was used up by the transport sector, he added.

Akhtar was inaugurating a two-day national conference on power, instrumentation, energy and control at the Aligarh Muslim University.

Earlier, Professor Mohibullah, chairman of the department of electrical engineering, said the department, one of the oldest in Indian universities, has a strong research base.

Mukhtar Ahmad, chairman of the conference, said the event was aimed at providing a forum to network, share and discuss new researches and developments in emerging technological areas.

The conference received more than a hundred papers from various academic institutions spread all over the country.

Mohammed Rehan, organising secretary of the conference said the department of electrical engineering has sanctioned Rs.1.13 crore under the fund for improvement of science and technology infrastructure (FIST) scheme of the central department of science and technology to strengthen the power, electronics, drivers and instrumentation laboratories.

S.M.A. Rizvi, dean of the faculty of engineering and technology, and Ekram Husain, principal of Z.H. College of Engineering and Technology, also addressed the conference.

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