Pune: Launching an attack without naming Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Anant Geete, Union Cabinet Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, said that ‘someone else’ is claiming credit for the achievements pertaining to his department. However, unlike many of his fellow party men, Geete lost no opportunity to announce that he shares the same vision as Prime Minister Modi.
Geete was interacting with the media on the sidelines of the valedictory function of iTEC India 2017, a conference organised to discuss the nuances of e-mobility, where he was the chief guest. He also unveiled the ‘Center of Excellence of Electric Mobility’, developed by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).
In a recent visit to Pune, Gadkari had announced many projects to be launched soon, like e-mobility, which focuses on phasing out polluting vehicles and replacing them with electric vehicles by 2020.
He said, “Our job is to work and my department is doing its best. I have not announced anything about the policies related to my department. However, some people are announcing policies of my department on their own. The vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is my vision.”
While speaking about the policy of electrification of vehicles in India, he said, “Though it has been announced about the complete electrification of the vehicles by 2020, we cannot realise it on our own. The government needs to protect the current auto industry and seek direction from the industry experts and researchers to decide the future course of action,” he said.
Geete further added, “By 2020, we are expected to completely shift our vehicles to the BS6 engine and then we will decide to move towards the electrification of public and private transport. But for that, we must accept the current reality that we import 70 per cent of crude oil and for electrification, we will be importing Lithium, necessary for the batteries. We have to carefully craft the policies to meet these demands and save cost incurred by the citizens,” he said.
iTEC India 2017 (International Transportation Electrification Conference India) was a 3-day conference based on the central theme of ‘Electrical Vehicle Ecosystem - Resetting the Future of Mobility’. This conference was jointly organised by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Society of Automotive Engineers India and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
The valedictory function took place in presence of the Union Minister. He was joined on the dais by Dr AK Jindal, Vice President and Head Engineering (CVBU), Tata Motors, Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Director, ARAI, Anand Deshpande, Deputy Director, ARAI, Dr Akshay Kumar Rathore, Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, K Venkatraj, Deputy Director General, SAEIndia, Ujjwala Karle, General Manager, ARAI and Convener - iTEC India-2017, Dr Tomy Sebastian, President, IEEE-IAS.
