Nitin Gadkari to launch India's first CNG tractor, will reduce emission and fuel costs

India's first-ever diesel tractor, converted to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is set to be launched on February 12. This conversion carried out by jointly by Rawmatt Techno Solutions and Tomasetto Achille India is said to help farmers lower their cost, thereby benefiting the farmers in increasing their income and creating job opportunities in rural India.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari will hold the formal launch ceremony and Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Narendra Singh Tomar, Parshottam Rupala and General (Retired) VK Singh will also be present at the launch.

A statement from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said, "The most important benefit for the farmer will be to save more than one lakh rupees annually on fuel costs, which will help them to improve their livelihood."

If a farmer converts his diesel-run tractor to CNG then it will help produce more power and will also reduce the overall emissions by 70% in comparison to the diesel-run engine. It will help farmers to save up to 50 per cent on the fuel cost as the current diesel prices are Rs 77.43/litre whereas CNG is only Rs 42/kg, reported by ANI.

The statement said that farmers will be able to save more than Rs one lakh annually on fuel costs, which will help them to improve their livelihood.

CNG is a fuel that can be used in place of petrol (gasoline), diesel fuel, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). CNG combustion produces fewer undesirable gases than the aforementioned fuels. In comparison to other fuels, natural gas poses less of a threat in the event of a spill, because it is lighter than air and disperses quickly when released.

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Gadkari calls for use of indigenous fuel cells for electric vehicles

While chairing a meeting of government agencies and representatives from research institutions in New Delhi on Wednesday, Gadkari has called for adopting an integrated approach for developing indigenous fuel cells in the field of electric vehicles. The Union Minister urged scientists, academia and industry to harness hydrogen-based energy as it is a cost-effective and easily available mode in the country. 

Speaking on harnessing solar energy for its low costs, Gadkari said that with nearly 81% of Li-ion battery components is available locally giving India a very good opportunity for value addition at lower costs, thereby resulting in employment generation at a large scale.

He also spoke of the revamp of the automobile industry to adapt to battery-operated car manufacturing and said that initially, one crore vehicles will go for scrapping under the new vehicle scrapping policy which will result in availability of cheaper aluminium, copper, rubber, steel and other products which are required for automobile manufacturing.

The next-generation batteries will not only minimise vehicular pollution in India but make India a global supplier of Electric Vehicles, Gadkari opined.

Days ago, Gadkari had assured offers and benefits for car buys who decide to scrap their old and polluting cars and buy a new one as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget for 2021-22 announced the voluntary vehicle scrapping policy.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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