Bengaluru: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday said India can become a five Trillion economy in the next five years provided both the Centre and the States work in tandem to transform the transport sector.
Addressing the 41st meeting of Transport Development Council (TDC), named Manthan, at Bengaluru, he said efforts should be made to increase the automobile industry from 7.5 lakhs crore to 15 lakhs crore in next 5 years enabling India as a top automobile manufacturing hub in the world.
“This is possible only with the adoption of best technologies for the Indian road sector and emphasis on digital contactless services by all States/Uts,” the Minister said, adding that all diesel buses should be replaced with electric buses to reduce pollution and costs.
Calling up on the stakeholders of transport sectors cater to the Prime Minister’s vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat, the Minister reiterated that serious and sensitive approach is needed towards road accidents and hard decisions will have to be taken to save precious lives of people.
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Ministers of Transport from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Goa, Karnataka, Delhi and Tamil Nadu participated in the Manthan programme, which began on Thursday.
The initiatives of the Ministry on construction of roads, public transport, technology adoption, road safety and the initiatives on the development of road transport were appreciated by the Ministers. They complemented Gadkari for bringing out the Motor Vehicles (amendment) Act, 2019 and its speedy implementation.
The industry representatives also spoke about various initiatives taken by respective States/UTs for improving the quality of road transport, road safety and support transport infrastructure. They also highlighted the challenges, such as adoption and procurement of electric buses, establishment of charging stations, driver training centres, vehicle fitness centres etc.
Minister of State Road Transport & Highways Gen V K Singh, Secretary Giridhar Aramane, and Joint Secretary Mahmood Ahmed also addressed the gathering.
