Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has said in the next five years, six districts of Maharashtra are going to be diesel-free. The selected districts include - Gondia, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Nagpur, Bhandara and Wardha. Gadkari also emphasized that there will not be “even a drop of diesel in these districts”.
When it comes to the present, Gadkari pointed out that currently, 50 buses are running on bio-CNG fuel and six factories have been set up where th0is fuel is prepared for trucks and buses, as reported by ANI.
Talking about having an alternative source of fuel, Gadkari said that it needed alternative sources for financing beyond banks and in the five years that have gone by, there has been an investment in the transport sector of about Rs 17 lakh crore.
The proposed changes, however, should be not seen as the Centre’s move to shut down any industry as Gadkari added, “We want to include the private sector in all our schemes so that the growth rate and employment potential in development increases," as per the report.
While the decision to be diesel-free in the next five years is certainly aggressive, given the slump in demand of passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle sales and auto manufacturers trying to cope up with the plummeting demand, it will be interesting to see how both – the government and the auto manufacturers – take steps to make this decision a reality in the coming years.
Comments
0 comment