Nitin Gadkari at a recent conference expressed confidence that green fuel will eliminate the need for petrol in India after five years. Having said this, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that Maharashtra aims to become the first state in the country where all public transport buses run on clean fuel.
Fadnavis said that without sharing the timeline when he sees the fleet change happening, Fadnavis said that big cities like Mumbai and Pune already have electric buses. Fadnavis said, “In the coming days, it will be our endeavor to ensure that there will be no conventional fuel in public transport. We have already started with big cities in the state where transport systems are being converted to clean systems. Is.” at an event organized by the Union Ministry of Culture and industry lobby CII here.
Fadnavis, who was the state’s chief minister for the last five-year term, said the state-run Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation would also soon start changing the fuel source for its fleet.
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Speaking at the first public meeting for himself and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde since taking oath last week, Fadnavis said that switching to EVs will help India achieve its overall environmental goals and also the electric vehicle ecosystem in the state. will develop.
He also said that politics sometimes interfere with building infrastructure such as the metro rail project in the financial capital, but made it clear that the government wants to speed up the pace of work and complete it on time.
Acknowledging that Maharashtra has lagged behind in progress in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, Fadnavis said efforts would be made to speed it up. Shinde said he and his deputy are currently looking at reducing the value-added tax (VAT) on fuel, as is done by some other states.
He said that MNCs are opening shop along the upcoming Mumbai-Nagpur Samridhi highway and claimed that farmers in the state will stop committing suicide once the highway becomes operational with 20 dedicated nodes for industry.
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Shinde also spoke about a meeting of the National Authority on Industrial Corridors chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and reaffirmed support for the creation of dedicated corridors between Mumbai and other cities such as Delhi, Bengaluru and Nagpur, and bulk drugs. , also parks for clothing and medicine. Device.
Speaking at the same event, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari pointed to sugarcane production in the state and urged the newly established state government to work on alternative fuels like ethanol as well.
(with inputs from PTI)