NMC, govt cold-shoulder my ideas, says Gadkari

Nagpur: Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday deplored that many of his innovative ideas which could earn handsome revenue hardly find favour with the BJP-ruled Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and even the government as those in power stick to ‘work to rule’ policy and fail to understand his inner urge to do something which is bigger.
Addressing the gathering at the Mayor Innovation Awards-2019 (MIA) function held at Suresh Bhat Sabhagruh, Reshimbagh, Gadkari could not hide his pain that his ideas were not digestible to NMC and the government.

Mayor Nanda Jichkar was in the chair. Rajya Sabha member Dr Vikas Mahatme, deputy mayor Deepraj Pardikar, leader of the ruling party in Nagpur Municipal Corporation Sandip Joshi, additional municipal commissioner Ram Joshi, MLAs Milind Mane and Vikas Kumbhare were present.

Gadkari gave vent to his feelings at the awards function against the backdrop of some of his observations being either blown out of proportion or given a different colour.

Maintaining that the country today needs innovations, he said nothing is waste provided mind is applied to use it for revenue generation. Citing an example, he said the suggestion he had given to NMC to sell waste water to energy projects has borne fruits and the civic body is earning Rs80 crore.

Besides, use of CNG in old buses has saved Rs60 crore. However, barring a few, many ideas that he had given to NMC were cold-shouldered, Gadkari said.

“Climate change is a severe challenge and need a novel approach. Using bio-fuel both for road as well as aviation transport and developing inland waterways that brings down the cost of logistics are the means to inch towards sustainable development,” he added.

Appealing to the youth to think out of the box, Gadkari gave the example of his thrust on inland waterways, rolling out the city’s first CNG bus and conversion of Jichkar’s diesel car into CNG.

Presenting the success report of MIA, convener Prashant Kadu said, “We had more than 1,200 participants with their state-of-the-art ideas on 25 types of civic works at the mayor’s modernistic concept of hackathon, held on February 1. Hundred ideas were nominated and the council decided to present 50 awards.”

In her address, Jichkar said the aim of organizing the event on a large scale was to provide a platform to the youth who are innovators for the future. A nation’s progress can be judged by self-inclusivity and resilience of its cities.

Assessing public involvement and citizen awareness is the key to strengthen the partnership between community and government. It was an effort to promote cohesive activities in Nagpur, she said.

Gadkari handed over the awards containing cash prize of Rs21,000 to first prize winners Sparsh Agrawal and Pearl Agrawal in the junior category for their innovation on a green solution; Nandkishore Mohankar in the graduates category for solar panels and Piyush Anjankar in the postgraduate category for creating a water conservation mobile app.

The second prize winners received a cash of Rs11,000 while those who secured the third spot got Rs5,000.