Need to focus on alternative fuels: Gadkari

Union minister for transport Nitin Gadkari Thursday stressed the importance of moving towards the alternative fuels like methanol, ethanol and electric and said that it will reduce the dependency on fossil fuels costs less.

Gadkari was speaking at a symposium on 'empowering mobility - the safe and intelligence way', organised by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).

"Our crude oil import bill is of Rs 7 lakh crore and this cost is creating big economic problems for the country and at the same time, the use of fossil fuels are creating pollution. As there is a lot of agriculture raw material waste, there is a need to convert it into energy through waste and move towards the alternative fuels like methanol, ethanol, bio- fuels and electric," he said.

He added that the prime minister has already declared that by 2022, we will have to reduce the import bill of crude oil by 10 percent.

He said that his priority is for the agriculture. "We are facing all the urban problems because we have neglected the rural agriculture."