Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday moved a resolution in the Punjab Assembly opposing the Centre’s mandatory E20 fuel blending policy during the ongoing Monsoon Session.Presenting the resolution, Cheema alleged that the policy was being implemented under pressure from global ethanol-producing corporates and said it would be detrimental to Punjab, which is already facing an ecological crisis due to its declining groundwater table.”The states should have been consulted before the policy was okayed,” Cheema said, adding that consumer interests should also be taken into confidence.The resolution, once approved by the House, would be sent to the Prime Minister and the Union Petroleum Minister.Participating in the discussion, Congress MLA Avtar Henry Junior claimed that ethanol production was harming the environment.”As much as 10,800 litres of water is required to make one litre of ethanol. I urge that the discussion on the resolution be deferred by a day, so that we get some time to study the issue and then discuss it here,” he said.Congress MLA Rana Gurjit Singh, whose family owns a sugar mill and an ethanol manufacturing unit, sought permission to speak on the resolution. However, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan declined the request to defer the discussion.