NAGPUR: Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday came under attack from opponents for allegedly promoting the use of e-rickshaws for the benefit of a company run by his wife’s brother.
Reacting to the disclosure of links between Purti Green Technologies Private Limited (PGTL), one of the manufacturers of e-rickshaws, where Gadkari’s brother-in-law Rajesh Totade is a director with 50% stake, Congress, AAP and CPM attacked the minister who last month boosted the use of the battery-operated three-wheelers by declaring that these would be exempt from the Motor Vehicles Act.
PGTL was formed under the Purti Group which was promoted by Gadkari though he resigned as chairman of the Group in 2011.
Even the BJP-ruled Nagpur Municipal Corporation in its budget presented on Tuesday announced for the first time that Rs 3 crore will be set aside to purchase e-rickshaws (solar or battery operated) that will then be distributed to handicapped people. At approximately Rs 1 lakh a piece, which is the cost of ‘Maxi’, 300 units can be purchased.
Gadkari a businessman first, Digvijaya says
Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh said Gadkari is a businessman first and a politician next. “It is natural that whatever he is doing is what he should be doing,” said Singh underlining Gadkari’s links with Purti Group, an association which had sparked a controversy leading the minister’s resignation as BJP president.
AAP which is locked in a serious competition with BJP for the sympathy of burgeoning numbers operating e-rickshaws said Gadkari’s “established link” pointed to a conflict of interest and accused him of camouflaging his business concerns as public interest and demanded that he be divested of the road transport portfolio.
CPM leader Sitaram Yechury also expressed suspicions about the conduct of Gadkari.
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