Union Minister of Roads, Transport and Highways Mr Nitin Gadkari today inaugurated India’s first commercial electric truck battery swapping and charging station at the Delhi International Cargo Terminal Private Limited (DICT) in Panchi Gujran village on the GT Road near Ganaur in Sonipat.
Addressing the event he said that the day is not far when India will be number one in producing aviation fuel and urged farmers to use stubble instead of burning it so that it can be used to produce fuel, thereby strengthening their economic condition. He said that farmers will now be the fuel provider, work is now being done to make fuel from stubble also. He said that in our country, 5 million tons of stubble are being used to make bio-bitumen. In Maharashtra, Nagpur and Jabalpur roads are also being built using stubble.
Talking about ethanol,he said that ethanol is being produced from corn, which has increased the market for corn. Mr Gadkari said, Companies are working on developing flexi-engines. Agricultural machinery is also now going to be equipped with flex engines. He said that with all these efforts , we have succeeded in curbing the pollution due to stubble burning.
During this, he said that the Indian economy is the third largest economy in the world, our logistics cost is double that of China. To reduce the logistic cost and benefit farmers we have to work on biofuels and other fuels and efforts are on in this direction, he added. Projects worth several lakh crores have been completed in Delhi alone. Now there will be savings in fuel as the highways in the country have become super fast. New roads are being built by dumping 80 lakh garbage on the roads. Logistics costs have now reduced by 6 percent.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that EV vehicles will run without pollution and today the truck was inaugurated, so they will travel at a lower rate than railways. He said that the price of batteries has decreased by 50 to 60 percent. He said, the day is not far when we will be free from diesel. Technology will advance a lot in the coming times.
Mr Gadkari said, Now the day is not far when our country will now produce fuel for ships. Transporters are requested to get rid of diesel and petrol so that their expenses are less than other transporters. Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy Deve Gowda was also present with him on this occasion.
