15.8.22

Gadkari speak on toll booths

Going ahead with plans to do away with toll plazas in the country, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said all old vehicles too would be fitted with new number plates that can be directly monitored through satellite using GPS and a sophisticated system. “The use of tamper-proof high security registration plates for new vehicles was started from 2019, where government agencies can get information about vehicles. Now, we have decided to provide the plates to old vehicles too. Currently, you need to pay full charges at toll plazas even 60km away from each other. Now, if you use the highway for only 30km, you will be charged half the price, with the help of new technology. ”

Stressing that this new initiative was still in the planning stages, the transportation minister said the Centre was sure of making the country free of toll plazas soon. “There will be no stoppages for vehicles and therefore, there will be less pollution, and it would also save time. With new technology, the money could be directly deducted from bank accounts. About 97% vehicles in India are on Fast-tag. The Indian road infrastructure would be at par with that in the United States before 2024 Lok Sabha polls. ”

On plans to launch liquid hydrogen as an alternative fuel, Gadkari said they had envisaged a Rs.17,000 crore project to generate green, black and brown hydrogen. “The green hydrogen would be generated from water and biomass. In municipal corporations, organic waste is generated in the form of sewage. If we treat this wastewater by using solar power, to generate hydrogen, it will benefit all. We can produce ethanol from organic waste by segregating it, which could be used to run generators. I am using a generator purely on ethanol, and its cost is only Rs.60 per litre against Rs.110 per litre of diesel. ”

Explaining new aluminum air technology, he said, it has been developed at Faridabad. “We are developing lithium ion, zinc ion and aluminium ion to make cost-effective batteries. This will lead to many changes in electric vehicles. We are starting buses and trucks running on methanol in Assam shortly. CNG and LNG costs are higher due to the Russia-Ukraine war, but these will reduce. We need to develop technologies which can substitute import, and are cheaper and pollution free. ”

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