Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, has emphasised
the importance of green initiatives within the construction sector to realise Prime
Minister Narendra Modi's vision of making India carbon neutral by 2070.
One of the environmental challenges faced by urban areas across India pertains to
the disposal of daily-generated solid waste. Gadkari highlighted that approximately
10,000 hectares of land are currently occupied by dumpsites. To address this issue,
his ministry is actively exploring solutions for utilising urban solid waste in the
construction of highways.
He has been a strong advocate for the widespread adoption of ethanol to boost
agricultural growth by 6 percent. The Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) plant in
Panipat converts agricultural waste, including rice straw, into ethanol and bio
bitumen. He announced plans for a mandate to use 1 percent sustainable aviation
fuel by 2025, with the potential to escalate blending to 5 percent in future.
Gadkari noted that approximately 600,000 mobile towers in India traditionally rely
on diesel generator sets for power. Each tower consumes around 8,000 litre of
diesel annually, resulting in the consumption of 250 crore litre of diesel, costing
around INR 25,000 crore annually. To address this, the integration of ethanol as a
sustainable alternative to diesel is being promoted.
Ethanol-based generator sets have already been developed and are expected to play
a pivotal role in reducing diesel dependence in the telecom sector, aligning with
the government's push for ethanol-based generators.
