Lashing out at Niti Aayog’s proposal of banning petrol and diesel-run vehicles of some classes, Union minister for road transport Nitin Gadkari on Friday said the Centre will not impose any such restriction and that the decision has to be taken by the transport minister and not the think-tank.
Niti Aayog had proposed to ban sales of three-wheelers using petrol or diesel by 2023 and two wheelers with petrol engines smaller than 150cc by 2025. The move was met by heavy criticism from the automobile industry, which is currently reeling under its worse slowdown in two decades.
“As a transport minister I have clarified many times there was some proposal by Niti Aayog but I am the transport minister and Niti Aayog is not the authority on this. I have always said that there is no time limit for converting to electric vehicles and we are not against petrol and diesel vehicles. But at the same time, we are encouraging electric vehicles. Electric public transport is our priority. We are encouraging public transport on alternative fuel and electric but we are not going to ban anything on petrol and diesel as we understand the importance of the industry. Let market decide what to do,” Gadkari said at the annual Mindmine Summit 2019 held in New Delhi on Friday.
Gadkari’s statement against the policy think-tank was supported by Niti Aayog primary member VK Sararwat who added that dependence on electric mobility is not the correct approach for the country.
“Today everyone is talking about battery and e-mobility, Niti Aayog had also set some goals which I am very happy that the minster has said the ministry of road transport and highways will decide not Niti Aayog —I fully agree with that. There is no point in accelerating a whole process of introducing e-mobility in the system for various reasons. For e-mobility to be successful and also make sure ICE (internal combustion engine) doesn’t get affected, we should go through a transit mode where the two continue to run together,” he said.
He also noted that India’s move to skip to BS-VI fuel norms may lead to more non-performing assets (NPAs) in the sector.
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday announced BS-IV vehicles purchased till 2020 will remain operational for the entire period of registration.
“The clear message by the finance minister that BS-IV vehicles that are purchased till March 31, 2020 will all remain operational for their entire period of registration has cleared the air on this subject and consumers will no longer hesitate to purchase BS-IV vehicles,” Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers president Rajan Wadhera said.
Gadkari also said, the Centre will soon allow announce a vehicle scrapping policy in a bid to provide relief to the automobile sector, which was also reiterated by the finance minister later in the day.