Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is constructing logistic parks costing Rs 2 lakh crores across the country which will be of great help to Maharashtra.
“The country now has the facility to land aircraft on 20 highways. Dry ports have begun functioning in Wardha district and new dry ports will be started in Solapur, Sangli and Nashik. These projects include storage, pre-cooling plants and production processing facilities. Today, oranges, yarn and fabric can be transported directly to Haldia from Nagpur and further to Bangladesh,” he added.
Similarly, Gadkari called upon the sugarcane farmers from Maharashtra to go in for ethanol production which is a better alternative to petrol and diesel. “Ethanol is ten times better as fuel than petrol or diesel and is cheaper and environment-friendly. There are three ethanol pumps already operating in Pune. Greater use of ethanol as fuel will help us in controlling pollution to a large extent,’’ said Gadkari.
He further added, "Ethanol production can create employment opportunities for about 50 lakh youth in Maharashtra. The country needs 4.5 trillion litres of ethanol. Sugarcane farmers in Maharashtra can benefit from ethanol production and consequently transform the face of rural Maharashtra.’’
Gadkari was speaking here on Saturday at the conference on "Development of Maharashtra from a New Budgetary Perspective" organized by the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (MACCIA).
Further, Gadkari made a strong case for the reduction in logistic costs which he said was a major issue faced by the Indian industry. ‘’Logistics costs are 12 percent each in the US and in European countries and 8 to 10 percent in China whereas in India it is around 14 to 16 percent. We need to build appropriate infrastructure to reduce logistics costs, a major issue faced by Indian industry,” he noted.
The Union Minister of State for Finance Dr Bhagwat Karad said that the Centre has provided Rs 2.5 lakh crore to MSMEs in order to help the industry sail through the COVID-19 pandemic. The government provided assistance to more than 95 lakh firms, thereby protecting the jobs of more than 5 crore people.
The Minister said that the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme has been announced for 14 sectors and that the PLI scheme has received a tremendous response. The government has also decided to launch 75 digital banks for the promotion of international trade, he added.
