Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari has said in the next five years both the centre and the States should work together to transform the Transport sector of the country to become five Trillion dollar economy. Addressing the 41st Meeting of Transport Development Council (TDC) at Bengaluru today 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. He said this is only possible with the adoption of best technologies for the Indian road sector and emphasis on digital contactless services by all States/UTs. The Minister said all diesel buses should be replaced with electric buses to reduce pollution and costs. Shri Gadkari said all the stakeholders should resolve to fulfil Prime Minister’s vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat. He 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.
Ministers of Transport from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Goa, Karnataka, Delhi and Tamil Nadu participated in the 41st Transport Development Council (TDC). 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 Shri Gadkari for bringing out the Motor vehicles (amendment) Act, 2019 and its speedy implementation. They 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 RTH & Civil Aviation, Gen. (Dr) V K Singh, Secretary Shri Giridhar Aramane, and Joint Secretary Shri Mahmood Ahmed also addressed the gathering.