Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said he wants to reduce VAT on hybrid vehicles (File)
Nagpur:
As part of his ambition to make India a green economy, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari wants to reduce VAT on hybrid vehicles and has promised to completely rid the country of over 36 crore petrol and diesel vehicles.
“One hundred per cent,” said Mr Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, when asked whether it is possible for India to completely get rid of petrol and diesel cars.
“It is difficult but not impossible. This is my view,” Mr Gadkari said in an interview with PTI.
He said India is spending Rs 16 lakh crore on fuel imports. This money will be used to improve the lives of farmers, villages will be prosperous and the youth will be employed, the minister said.
Mr Gadkari has not given a timetable for achieving this ambitious target, which even green energy advocates find mind-bogglingly difficult.
The proposal to reduce VAT on hybrid vehicles to five percent and to 12 percent for flex engines has been sent to the finance ministry, which is considering the request, Mr. Gadkari said.
The minister said he strongly believes that the country can put an end to fuel imports by promoting the use of biofuels.
Environmentalists welcomed Gadkari’s vision of increasing green mobility but also sounded a word of caution by denouncing the use of fossil fuels in electricity production.
“In India, we are still heavily dependent on a fossil fuel-based energy system to power electric cars, and that needs to change. There is an urgent need for 100 percent renewable energy alongside electric vehicles to tackle the climate crisis.” Avinash Chanchal, a campaigner for Greenpeace India, told PTI.
Mr Gadkari said he has been committed to alternative fuels since 2004 and is confident that things will change in the next five to seven years.
“I cannot give you a date and a year when this transformation will take place because it is very difficult. This is difficult but not impossible,” Mr. Gadkari asserted.
He said he strongly believes that with the rate at which electric vehicles are being introduced, the coming era will be full of alternative fuels and biofuels and this dream will become a reality.
Mr Gadkari said auto companies such as Bajaj, TVS and Hero are also planning to produce motorcycles using flex engines and auto-rickshaws with similar technology are also on the way.
“I walk around in a car that runs on hydrogen. You see electric cars in every other household. People who used to say that this was not possible have now changed their minds and started to believe in what I have been saying for the past twenty years. “, said the minister.
“Tatas and Ashok Leyland have introduced trucks that run on hydrogen. There are trucks that run on LNG/CNG. There are 350 factories across the country of bio-CNG,” he said.
“A revolution is definitely taking place. Fuel imports will end and this country will become self-reliant – Atmanirbhar Bharat. I strongly believe in this,” Mr Gadkari said.
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