Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari said that on his insistence two-wheeler majors like Hero, Bajaj and TVS have come up with bikes with flex engines, which may be on display at the Agrovision Expo here. Flex engines run both on petroleum and alternate fuels. The expo patronized by Gadkari was inaugurated on Friday.
“The day may not be far when there would even be bikes, autorickshaws and cars running fully on ethanol. Soon there would be ethanol pumps at various locations,” he said.
Toyota has put its 100% ethanol driven car on display at the expo and soon other brands like BMW, Mercedes, Hyundai and Maruti-Suzuki are expected to launch their models of the bio-fuel cars, he said.
The function had MP chief minister Shivraj Singh as the chief guest, though deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was also named among the guests, did not turn up. State agriculture minister Abdul Sattar also did not attend.
Gadkari, who boasts of having a hydrogen car, said he has also imported an autorickshaw running on hydrogen from the US. The vehicle is at present with the customs department. “You need to show things to prove the technology,” he said. Gadkari, a strong proponent of bio-fuel, said he is coming up with a bio-CNG plant in the region as he exhorted others to set up similar ventures.
“Our dream is finally close to coming true. Indian Oil Corporation has set up a plant to make one lakh litre of ethanol per day along with 150 tonnes of bio-bitumen on a daily basis at Panipat. Both ethanol and bitumen would be made through rice straw. With the bio-bitumen plant, the farmers will be contributing in building roads,” he said. IOC will also be making ethanol out of bamboo, he said.
He said the bio-bitumen and ethanol made by IOC will also help preventing pollution that happens in Delhi due to stubble burning.
Gadkari said a day ago he also signed an order that makes it mandatory for central government organizations to scrap vehicles after 15 years. This would be applicable even to central PSUs. “I would insist on state governments to adopt similar measures,” he said. The stress has to be on using electric or bio-fuel vehicles, he said.
He said soon paddy-growing districts of Vidarbha like Nagpur, Bhandara, Gadchiroli, Gondia and Chandrapur would have tractors and buses running on bio-CNG. “It was a difficult project but even I am coming up with a project on bio-CNG, this means even others can invest,” he said.
PDKV convention centre at Dabha soon
Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV) has sent a proposal to set up a convention centre on its land near Dabha. Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari had been pushing the case for setting up a state-of-the-art agro convention on the land. The site is located on the rear side of IAF headquarters maintenance command. It will entail cost of Rs150 crore to be footed by the central government. The proposal would be put up to the central government by the state. I have been assured of the funding by Union agriculture minister Narendra Tomar, he said.