AMN
Highways and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari today lamented about the huge air pollution in Delhi particularly in winter due to burning of rice straw in neighbouring states.
Speaking at an event in Mumbai, he said that Indian Oil has set up a project in Panipat, Haryana where one lakh litre of bio-ethanol and 150 tonne of bio-bitumen per day will be produced. Mr Gadkari said this will help in making the country self-reliant in fuel.
The Minister said, those farmers’ who are burning the rice straw for free can be paid two thousand rupees per tonnes for producing bio-ethanol and bio-bitumen.
Mr. Gadkari also spoke about Tree Bank, where municipal corporations, municipal councils and gram panchayats who are taking steps to increase the green cover in their region will be rewarded by the Government.
Mr. Gadkari added that he shared the Tree Bank concept with Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, who has accepted his proposal. He opined that less charges should be levied on poor people for being provided water as compared to those who use it for commercial purposes.
He said that although financial audit is important but advocated that performance audit is much more important. He stressed that revenue should be earned through solid and liquid waste management.
The Minister said that an Act will be enacted on the horn decibel. He said loud honking leads to sound pollution and as a reason in coming days horns will have musical sounds of tabla, flute and mouth-organ.
He said three layers of bridge is being built between Wagholi to Shirur in Pune which will have eight-lane road, six lane bridge and on the top there will be Metro rail connectivity. He said in Mumbai too, double-decker bridges should be built to ease traffic woes.