MODI GOVT’S BLUE-PRINT FOR INFRA DEVELOPMENT
Promoting ethanol-friendly cars, turning river Ganga into a waterway, bringing a comprehensive Motor Vehicles Bill and rolling out 50 stalled road projects are top agendas that figure prominently in new Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Jairam Gadkari’s blue-print to spur infrastructure-growth. Putting in place a “a reward and punishment” system for road construction and building concrete highways are two other focus areas of Gadkari, who assumed charge of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Ministry in Narendra Modi-government on May 29. “The nation spends Rs 6 lakh crore on imports of petrol, diesel and gas. Huge crude and gas bill is the reason behind rupee depreciation. “I have asked the department to study whether the five big companies -- Volkswagen, Ford, Toyota, Honda and Fiat--can import E85 engine here, like they do in Brazil and Canada,” he as said soon after assuming charge of the crucial infrastructure ministries. E85 engines consume the fuel that is a mix of 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent petrol. He has said the ministers concerned will soon hold a meeting with farmers in Petroleum Minister’s presence for exploring the possibilities of reviving sick sugar factories so that ethanol is available in abundance. “Hurdles on the way of 50 mega road projects would be removed soon and a reward and punishment system would be introduced in the department so that accountability is fixed. There will be zero tolerance for corruption and delays.” Gadkari has said he has also asked the department to study
whether concrete roads, which are more durable and virtually maintenancefree, could be built instead of bitumen highways that get damaged due to rain and weather. North East and Jammu & Kashmir would be the focus area for road projects, he has added. On Ganga, he has said his department in coordination of Ministries of Water Resources, Urban Development, Forest and Environment, Industry, Tourism and Power was exploring the possibility of a waterway of Gangotri-Kanpur-Allahabad-Kolkata for cargo and passenger movement. The riven bank can be developed in a such a fashion that tourism is also promoted by setting up airport-like terminals on its banks besides having light and sound shows. As part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mission to clean up the Ganges, ministries would work hand in hand to cleanse the polluted holy river and make it a hub of spiritual tourism, announcing this he has said, “To undertake dredging activities of up to 45 metres from
Varanasi to Hoogly, the Ministry of Environment and Forest will evaluate the ecological impact of the proposal and will give us the report.” “We have started technical evaluation of barrages that we intend to set up at a distance of every 100 km and use it for connectivity. It will also be utilised for goods and passenger transportation,” he has added. Another ambitious target for him is to come up with a new Motor Vehicles Bill that will provide that repeated violations of traffic rules will result in cancellation of driving license. “If anyone violates the road rules more than three times, his driving license will be suspended for six months and if he continues to violate after that, then the driving license will be cancelled. These are some of the considerations as part of redrafting the Motor Vehicles bill,” Gadkari has said. His comments had come two days after Gopinath Munde, who was the Rural Development Minister, died in a road accident in the national capital. India reported 4.9 lakh road accidents in 2013 with a death toll of 1.38 lakh. As many as 5.09 lakh persons were injured in road accidents during the year.