A few years back, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had said that he stores his own urine to make his own fertiliser. And now, he has expressed his desire to upscale this idea to a level where it puts an end to India's need to import urea.

If it is done, India will not need to import fertiliser, he claimed, addressing a gathering of young innovators at the Mayor Innovation Awards function of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation. Even human urine can be useful for making a bio-fuel and it can also yield ammonium sulfate and nitrogen, he told the gathering.

"I have asked for storage of urine at airports. We import urea, but if we start storing urine of entire country then we will not need to import urea, so much potential it has, and nothing will be wasted," Gadkari said.

Speaking at the event, he also gave the example of how amino acid extracted from human hair waste can be used as a fertiliser. Citing his own experience, Gadkari claimed that it boosted production at his farms by 25 per cent. Because he could not get adequate hair in Nagpur, he had to purchase "five trucks of hair" from Tirupati temple every month, Gadkari said. Devotees shave their head and donate their hair to the temple, which are later sold.

"We are selling amino acid abroad and have order of about 180 containers of bio-fertiliser from the Dubai government," said Gadkari, who controls Purti Group of Industries.

"Other people do not cooperate with me because all my ideas are fantastic. Even the (municipal) corporation will not help, because in government, people are trained to be like (blinkered) bulls who walk in the rut, not looking here and there," the minister, known for his outspoken ways, said.

(With PTI inputs)