Petrol Diesel Price Hike: India Should Move to ‘Alternative’ Fuel to Tackle Soaring Prices, Says Nitin Gadkari

New Delhi, June 2: Centre is making efforts to find long-term solutions to tackle the fuel price hike, said Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari. While addressing a press-con

New Delhi, June 2: Centre is making efforts to find long-term solutions to tackle the fuel price hike, said Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari. While addressing a press-conference, he also suggested that India should move to “alternative” fuels such as ethanol, methanol, bio-diesel, bio-CNG and electric to find a permanent solution of soaring prices of petrol and diesel.

“We have already stopped the subsidy on petrol and diesel, and we are giving LPG connections to 8 crore people. We could give the LPG connections to so many people because we stopped the subsidy on petrol and diesel,” Gadkari said, adding, “The government is making efforts to find long-term solutions to tackle the fuel price hike issue.”

Furthermore he stated,”India is importing petrol and diesel worth Rs 8 lakh crore and long-term efforts are being taken to bring the expenditure down. To do this we need to move towards alternative fuels.”

Gadkari also assured that within six months, several automobile companies will bring vehicles that can run on these alternative fuels which are cheaper than crude oils.

On being asked about bringing petrol and diesel under the Goods and Services Tax slab, the minister said that by bringing these under the GST, fuel prices can be cut by up to Rs 8.

Earlier on Friday, the trend of miniscule reduction in petrol and diesel prices continued for the third consecutive day with oil firms cutting rates by 6 paise and 5 paise a litre respectively. Notably, Delhi has the cheapest price among all metros and most state capitals.  According to a price notification issued by state-owned oil firms, Petrol in Delhi costs Rs 78.29 a litre, down from Rs 78.35. Notably, prices of petrol and diesel vary from state-to-state depending on local sales tax or VAT.