The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, stated that it is important for India to transform the present transport system into a multimodal system in the next five years for the country to achieve a USD 5 trillion economy.

He stressed the importance of adopting a multimodal transport system for the country in the 41st meeting of the Transport Development Council (TDC) at Bengaluru on Friday.

The Union Minister stated that the Centre and the states will have to work together over the next five years.

“There is a need that we have to shed our differences, come together and formulate future policies so that the transport system can be run on the energy produced in the country,” he said.

He batted for a holistic approach to developing the transport sector to achieve India’s economic agenda over the next five years. And added that at present, the roads are used to transport 70 per cent of the goods. Gadkari emphasized the adoption of comprehensive methods to reduce it.

There is a need to not rely solely on road transport but also on water transport, railways and airports which need to be interlinked seamlessly.

He said that efforts should be made to double the automobile industry from Rs. 7.5 lakh crore to Rs. 15 lakh crores in the next five years to establish India as a top automobile manufacturing hub in the world.

Gadkari said this can only be possible by the adoption of the best technologies for the Indian road sector and emphasis on digital contactless services by all States and Union Territories. He said that all diesel buses should be replaced with electric buses to reduce pollution and costs.

Commemorating ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat” he encouraged all the stakeholders should resolve to fulfil the Prime Minister’s vision. He reminded us that a serious and sensitive approach, alongside hard decisions, needs to be taken to reduce road accidents by 50 per cent by 2024 and save the precious lives of people.

ALSO READ : Big boost to Meghalaya ecotourism.