india

Updated: Jul 16, 2019 23:00 IST

The number of people killed in road accidents far outnumber those killed in terror attacks or natural calamity, union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said in the parliament on Tuesday. He was speaking during the discussions on demands for grants for the ministry which was passed by the Lok Sabha.

“More people are killed in road accidents than in terror attacks. Most of these accidents could be avoided if we maintain road safety,” Gadkari said. He added that work worth about Rs 11 lakh crores were awarded by the ministry during this period, and over 57,000 kms of national highways were awarded. Of this, over 40,000 kms were constructed in the last five years.

Gadkari said that within four months, electronic toll collection process will be made mandatory to avoid long queues at toll plazas, and Bharat stage-VI pollution norms will be introduced by April 2020. He added that electric and biofuel-run vehicles will soon be on the roads.

The Opposition had reserved some rare praise for the minister. Congress’s floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the minister is an innovative and informative person, while RSP MP NK Premachandran said that Gadkari is an “exemplary performer”.

Chowdhury, however, wanted to know how will the government acquire lithium and cobalt reserves that are needed for lithium ion batteries. “Most of these mines, which are in Chile, have been purchased by China. Will there be any private investment, and what will be the ceiling,” he asked.

In the post-lunch discussion on the demand for grants for the union ministry of Rural Development and Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for this fiscal, on the other hand, the government came under severe attack by the Opposition.

Congress MP Uttam Kumar Reddy said that over 12,000 farmers commit suicide every year with the average being 30 suicides every day. “Be it paddy in Uttar Pradesh or West Bengal, or red gram in Maharashtra or Karnataka, or groundnut in Rajasthan or Andhra Pradesh, most of these crops are selling below MSP. The farmers are asking: what did you promise and what did you deliver,” he said. He demanded that Goods and Services Tax should be removed from all agriculture equipment.

NCP MP from Shirur, Amol Ramsingh Kolhe said that in order to help the farmers, the Minimum Support Price should be calculated as per local prices.

National Conference MP from Anantnag Hasnain Masoodi said that while the manifesto of the ruling party promised several benefits to farmers, not much has reached them. TMC MP Pratima Mandal said that while the agriculture sector’s contribution is crucial for the $5 trillion-vision of the economy, the allocation for the Rural Development ministry fell this fiscal. “The allocation has fallen from 4.7% in 2018-19 to 4.4% in 2019-20 in terms of its share in the total budget. Thus the shout-out that it has been allotted Rs 5,200 crore more that the last year is absolutely baseless. It has decreased in terms of share and .3% makes a lot of difference,” Mandal said.