It’s high time for auto industry to drive electric vehicles segment: Nitin Gadkari

Hyderabad: Nitin Gadkari, union minister for road transport, highways and shipping expressed concerns over vehicular pollution and asked the automobile industry to venture into electric vehicles (EV) segment. The union transport minister has clarified that the government is not against any particular automobile company, while reiterating the government’s plan to make the country an all-electric car market by 2030.

Speaking at ISB Leadership Summit organised by the Indian School of Business (ISB) here on Sunday, Gadkari said: “We export Rs1.5 lakh crore worth of automobiles. The auto industry has got highest employment potential. I ask the auto industry to focus on exports. However, pollution is a major problem for the country. We should focus on indigenous technology.

Now, India is coal and power surplus country and energy cost is very cheap. I advise automobile industry to venture into public transportation using electricity.” He further said the ministry was earlier laying 2 km of roads per day on an average and today the number has spiralled to 28 kms. With regard to road accidents, the minister said there was a slight reduction in the number of accidents that occur on roads by 4 to 5 per cent now.

He said: “When I took over on average about 5 lakh people used to die in road accidents every year. We have identified over 780 black spots on the Indian roads.”