BENGALURU: The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways on Tuesday said that there is an immediate need to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, and switch to alternative sources of energy keeping in mind the growth of the agriculture sector. Yet without compromising on quality, India should be made a global leader in the automated and construction industry in the next five years.
Speaking at the inauguration of the five-day long, 12th edition of Excon, a construction equipment exhibition in south Asia, being held in Bengaluru, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Gadkari said: “I am giving you all the task to make India No. 1 in the automated and construction industry sector in the next five years. This is the most important challenge but I am confident it can be done.”
He said honesty, transparency, credibility and goodwill are the biggest capital of the 21st century so the quality of the equipment is very important. This should never be compromised while export is increased. He also stressed upon universities and industries to take up technology research. He urged industries to take up initiatives to train people to get skilled manpower. Universities, engineering colleges and IITs should also start training programmes on construction equipment which can be useful with good research.
Taking the net zero carbon emission goal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead, in the wake of the COP28 summit, Gadkari told the industries- if you can make engines run on diesel, you can make them run on petrol, then you can also make them run on 100% ethanol. The rural, tribal and agricultural sector is facing a lot of economic problems. So, diversification of agricultural tools, energy and power sectors is very important. In this context, the role of industries is very important.
The union minister pointed out that to attain net-0 emissions by 2070, there is also a concern about diesel generator sets used in the telecommunication towers. He quoted that 250 crore litres of diesel is being used and asked the generator manufacturers to switch to ethanol, methanol or even CNG. He pointed out that there is a lot of stress on the import of fossil fuels.
“I am not against diesel and petrol. But it is a challenge. We need more technology and research in the fuel sector. We have an import of fossil fuel of Rs 16 lakh crores. We are facing pollution problems everywhere. This import is a big problem economically. Green hydrogen is the fuel of the future. In electric vehicles also a lot of new development is going on,” he said.
Gadkari also pointed towards the 400 crore litre of diesel consumed annually by the Indian construction and mining sector. He said: “We have an import of coal of Rs 16 lakh crore. About 9 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) is released annually by the construction sector. If this is reduced you will get carbon credit. This is a time to do so for the interest of the society, country and the economy.”
He also added: “We decided to add 15% rubber powder and 7% waste plastic to bitumen. This is the new decision we have taken. The infrastructure industry is growing and there should be more research and technological innovations. There is a huge demand for mechanization of road construction. Now the future is pre- cast industry. In making green field access-controlled highway, we are planning to use pre- cast technology. We are doing some experiments.”