Jairam Ramesh purchased Tata Nexon EV after this exchange with Gadkari in RS

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday shared an earlier exchange with Union minister Nitin Gadkari in Rajya Sabha over the phasing out of petrol and diesel vehicles and encouraging electric vehicles by bringing down prices. Taking to Twitter, the Congress MP reaffirmed that India, at least the very least, should end manufacturing of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035.

Jairam Ramesh also said that he purchased a Tata Nexon EV after the exchange with Gadkari during the Budget Session.

“After this exchange with @nitin_gadkari on March 22nd, I got myself a Tata Nexon EV. I firmly believe India should put an end to manufacturing of all types of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035 at the very least, and massively bring down the cost of EVs,” the Congress general-secretary in-charge of communications tweeted.

In the video, the Congress leader can be heard asking Gadkari whether India has a specific roadmap to phaseout all the petrol and diesel vehicles, adding that the private car manufacturers otherwise won’t be getting incentives for the same.

Replying to Ramesh’s question, Gadkari agreed that presently India has “lot of petrol and diesel vehicles” and that’s why the government has launched a scrapping policy. He added that the amount of pollution generated by one ‘old vehicle’ is equivalent to the pollution generate by four new vehicles.

He requested the Congress MP to not call for any “fixed program” with 2035 or 2040 as a deadline for phasing out petrol and diesel vehicles. Gadkari asserted that electric vehicles will be the natural choice over petrol and diesel vehicles since it is cost effective.