The Budget 2024-25 - the final budget of Narendra Modi Government ahead of the national general elections, appears to appreciate the need for a sustainable EV (electric vehicle) ecosystem.
'The Centre will expand and strengthen the e-vehicle ecosystem by supporting manufacturing and charging infrastructure,' said finance minister Nirmal Sitaraman in her Budget speech. 'Greater adoption of e-buses for public transport networks will be encouraged through payment security mechanisms,' she said. Towards meeting the country's commitment for ‘net-zero’ by 2070, viability gap funding would be provided for harnessing offshore wind energy potential for initial capacity of one giga-watt. She also announced that the blending of compressed biogas
(CBG) in compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport and piped natural gas (PNG) for domestic purposes would be mandatory. But this would be implemented in a phased manner, she added.
She also announced that three major economic railway corridor programmes would be implemented. They are:
(1) energy, mineral and cement corridors,
(2) port connectivity corridors, and
(3) high traffic density corridors.
'The projects have been identified under the PM Gati Shakti for enabling multi-modal connectivity. They will improve logistics efficiency and reduce cost,' she said.
The resultant decongestion of the high-traffic corridors, she said, would also help in improving operations of passenger trains, resulting in safety and higher travel speed for passengers. Forty thousand normal rail bogies would be converted to the Vande Bharat standards to enhance safety, convenience and comfort of passengers, the finance minister said.
'The aviation sector has been galvanised in the past ten years. Number of airports has doubled to 149. Roll out of air connectivity to tier-two and tier-three cities under UDAN scheme has been widespread. Five hundred and seventeen new routes are carrying 1.3 crore passengers. Indian carriers have pro-actively placed orders for over 1000 new aircrafts. Expansion of existing airports and development of new airports will continue expeditiously,' she said.
Metro & NaMo Bharat
Asserting that Metro Rail and NaMo Bharat could be the catalyst for the required urban transformation, she said expansion of these systems would be supported in large cities focusing on transit-oriented development.
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