All 15-year-old govt vehicles to be scrapped, says Nitin Gadkari

All central government vehicles older than 15 years will be scrapped hereon and a policy has been signed to this effect, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari said on Friday (November 25).

“Yesterday, I signed a file under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that all the vehicles of the Indian government which have completed 15 years will be scrapped,” he said.

Speaking at the inauguration of the annual Agro-Vision agriculture exhibition, Gadkari also said that the policy has been sent to states and they should adopt it at their level.

Gadkari also announced that two plants of Indian Oil have almost started in Panipat, and one of these will produce one lakh litres of ethanol per day while the other one will manufacture 150 tonnes bio-bitumen per day using rice straw.

This is a big change as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and rice-producing parts of the country, where burning of rice straw causes pollution. Now, rice straw will be used to produce ethanol and bio bitumen, he said.

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“We require 80 lakh tonnes of bio-bitumen in the country and mostly in the roadways department. Around 50 lakh tonnes of bitumen is manufactured in the country and we import about 25 lakh tonnes of it,” he said.

“I am happy that when such projects start, our country will no longer need to import bitumen. Our roads in villages, districts, states and national highways would be made of bitumen using rice straw produced by farmers,” he said.

Gadkari also talked about one more project by Indian Oil in Assam where bioethanol will be produced.

“Bamboos will be cultivated on wastelands, from which bioethanol will be produced. Our farmers will not only remain food providers, but they will be energy providers as well,” Gadkari said.

Madhya Pradesh Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was chief guest at the event, appreciated Gadkaris efforts.