A new electric transport policy is on the anvil for hilly terrains of the country including in Himachal Pradesh and North Eastern states, union minister Nitin Gadkari has said.
"People living in hilly terrains like Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya etc face severe hardships as far as transportation is concerned. To address their concerns, we will formulate a electric transport policy for these regions," road transport and highways minister Gadkari stated in a press statement.
The Minister said the Centre in consultations with state governments would soon formulate the policy under which environment-friendly, cost-effective and intelligent transport system will be introduced.
"These will include electric buses, hybrid vehicles and cable car systems for such states, and under this, foreign players with expertise in these areas would be encouraged to participate," he said.
Also, the government would offer sops like tax breaks and free electricity to the investors for intelligent transport systems in these areas, Gadkari said.To promote eco-friendly vehicles, which can be run on bio-fuel, the Transport Ministry has sought import duty reduction on used cooking oil that could easily be converted into bio-diesel to power vehicles, he added.