India aspires to be among energy exporters, not importers: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari

Gadkari further stated that homegrown manufacturers like Tata and Ashok Leyland have already launched buses and trucks that run on Hydrogen fuel. He also said India’s ambition to become an energy exporting nation is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of making India ‘Aatma Nirbhar.’

The minister further added that India’s developing road and highway infrastructure is aimed at reducing the time and overall cost of transport between cities. He also said that the development of roads also helps the nation to grow.

Gadkari, who is the Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) of India, also stressed that Indians generally don’t follow traffic rules. He said, “We don’t take rules seriously. If human behaviour will change, then we will be able to save more lives from road mishaps.”

According to MoRTH, approximately 1.5 lakh people die every year on Indian roads, which translates, on average, into 1,130 accidents and 422 deaths every day or 47 accidents and 18 deaths every hour.

The minister also highlighted passenger benefits from transitioning fossil fuel vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs) and said the operating cost of EVs is much lower than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. “If all ICE-based road public transport can be converted into electric ones, it would help reduce ticket prices for passengers by as much as 30 per cent,” he asserted.