Campaign to run down electric vehicles sad: Goyal
New Delhi, Sep 7 : Some companies in India are engaged in a campaign to run down electric vehicles in order to promote their hybrid cars in the country, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday, adding that it is sad that hybrid cars are being promoted at the expense of electric cars.
Addressing the Global Mobility Summit here, the Minister said that the companies pushing hybrid vehicles are actually promoting technology that is "second best".
"We saw the progression from petrol cars to hybrid cars, and it is extremely sad that there is a campaign to promote hybrid cars at the expense of electric cars. I urge those companies to quickly make electric cars instead of hawking the market with intermediate products," Goyal said.
"The sad part is that the campaign is being run by companies which don't make electric cars. To sell their hybrid cars they are willing to compromise with the best. They want us to settle for the second best just because they don't make electric cars.
"Gone are the days that India will settle for anything which is second best. We want nothing but the best," he added.
Declaring that he is the owner of two hybrid cars, the Minister said these brought "no savings whatsoever".
"So let's look for the best and move out of the psychology and psyche of subsidies and grants and government handholding everything," he said.
The Minister said that considering the cost dynamics in the country and that people deserve the best at affordable prices, the effort should be to make technology the driver of programming, "so that India moves to be a 100 per cent producer of electric vehicles by 2030".
Goyal also said the Centre has decided to bring all the logistics in the government under a common framework to enable more integrated planning under the Commerce Ministry.
"All of us, railways, road, transport, shipping and aviation are working in our own individual areas, but planning for logistics sector in a holistic manner, particularly, with the view to bring down the cost to 7-8 per cent from 12-14 per cent," he said.
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SIT to be set up to identify forest, revenue land as per SC directions: Karnataka Minister Gowda
Mangaluru (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Saturday said a SIT will be constituted at the district level to identify forest and revenue land and submit a report in compliance with directions of the Supreme Court.
Speaking after inaugurating the Mulki taluk Administrative Centre 'Praja Soudha' near here, the minister said the long-pending issue of classification of forest and revenue land has caused hardship to farmers and the government is taking steps to resolve it on priority.
Joint surveys are being conducted to demarcate forest and revenue land in areas earlier granted to farmers, he said, adding that instructions have been issued to all deputy commissioners in the state to expedite the process.
Gowda said many farmers had faced problems as land granted to them earlier had not been formally regularised. The government has now taken up the task of completing the process. A special investigation team (SIT) will be constituted at the district level to identify forest and revenue land and submit a report in compliance with directions of the Supreme Court, he added.
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Between 2018 and 2023, plotting was completed for 1,948 beneficiaries in the district, while in the last two years, plotting under the 1-5 scheme was carried out for 60,943 beneficiaries, he said. Of these, 23,620 farmers have been issued pahani documents.
He said title deeds have been distributed to 2.20 lakh beneficiaries under the regularisation provisions of certain sections relating to house sites.
Under the e-Pouthi campaign, about 60,000 legal heirs have been granted mutation of land records that were earlier in the names of deceased persons, the minister said.
He also said a special drive has reduced cases pending for over two years in Tahsildar courts from 10,774 to 130, while similar cases in Assistant Commissioner courts have been brought down from 73,624 to 2,299.
Land records are now accessible online round-the-clock, eliminating the need for people to visit offices for certified copies, he said, adding that nearly 73 crore pages of revenue records across the state have been scanned at taluk offices in the past two years.
Gowda said taluk administrative offices have been named 'Praja Soudha' to bring governance closer to people. An additional Rs 1.60 crore has been sanctioned for compound construction and other facilities at the Mulki centre.
State Health and Family Welfare Minister and Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said efforts are being made to boost investment and tourism in the district.
He said the recent state budget has announced a Global Capability Centre for the district and steps will soon be taken to implement it.
A sum of Rs 70 crore has been sanctioned for a new OPD block at Wenlock District Hospital, while discussions are underway with three private medical colleges to strengthen clinical services at taluk hospitals in Moodbidri, Bantwal, Vitla and Belthangady.
Lok Sabha member Brijesh Chowta urged the revenue minister to resolve forest and revenue land issues in Puttur, Sullia, Kadaba and Belthangady taluks and said approval has been given for development of the national highway from Talapady to Kundapur with service roads on both sides.
