WARDHA: Supporting the scrappage policy announced in the Budget, Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said it would spur India to become the world’s number one automobile manufacturing hub in next five years.
Interacting with the media in Wardha, the Nagpur MP said that Sindi (Railway) near Wardha would be developed into a big logistics park and he would try to shift the Container Corporation of India (CCI) depot in Nagpur there.
The area is already being developed as a dry port having direct connectivity to Mumbai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT). The declaration, however, put a big question mark whether the proposed cargo hub in Mihan would stay or be dropped.
Reiterating that he would be announcing details of the scrappage policy in 8-10 days, the minister said it would generate over 25 lakh jobs. “We would be taking scrap from all over the world and recycling it. It would help to reduce prices of automobile components by almost 40%,” he said.
The minister further said that vehicles older than 15 years need higher maintenance and also have higher fuel consumption. “With change in technology, new vehicles require less maintenance and are fuel efficient. We would provide discounts, for example 5% on price of new vehicles to those who offer their old ones for scrap,” he said.
Explaining further, he said the country would produce electric vehicles and lithium batteries. “Scrap from old vehicles like aluminium, copper plastic rubber and steel would be recycled that would help in setting up new ancillary industries.
“We would levy green tax on old vehicles. I am a big supporter of bio-fuel and have plans to make Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia and Gadchiroli diesel free cities in five years. Even in Budget, the government has made provision for 25,000 electric buses for city transportation. A tractor powered by bio-CNG will also be launched in Delhi on February 12 by petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan,” he said.
Declaring that he would be providing Rs50 crore through the Ministry of Micro and Small Industries to Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Rural Industrialization (MGIRI) in Wardha, Gadkari said he would convert it into a world-class institute for providing training in the areas of tribal, forest and agriculture research and industrialization. “It would be developed on the lines of the proposed Terracotta centre in Ballarpur for promoting local handicraft products and would soon get a full time director,” he said.
Reacting on farmers’ protest, he said opposition is misleading them and the government is working for the benefit of farmers. Lauding the budget, he said it would strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a self-reliant India (Atmanirbhar Bharat).
On fuel hike, he said the government would soon be launching ethanol petrol pumps in Nagpur for vehicles that would run on the fuel. “This fuel would cost just Rs60. Many companies have already started manufacturing such vehicles.”