Hindustan Times ( 28 Sept 2016 ) carries a news report
titled :
" Traffic Menace :
HC says restrict cars per family "
The report goes on to read :
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
" Considering
Mumbai’s nightmarish traffic congestion, it is perhaps time for the state to
restrict “the number of cars per family” and moving some of the traffic off the
road, to “water”.
The bench asked the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the Mumbai Metropolitan Region
Development Authority, the state Urban Development Ministry and the traffic
police department to sit together and come up with a holistic policy to
decongest the city’s roads.
Every household now has
more than one vehicle. We are told around 1,000 to 1,300 new vehicles get
registered by the RTO each day. A large number of private vehicles enter the
city every morning and leave in the evenings, but these have no space for
parking through the day. The government cannot sit on the problem anymore,” the
bench said. "
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noble intentions
indeed !
But the questions that
arise are :
# What about millions
of families who already have more than one car today ? Can a law force them to
sell off
those extra cars
? Can they be allowed to buy a new car to replace an old / polluting one with an
Electric car ?
# If law cannot force 4 car families to
dispose off 3 cars, then would it be fair to deny a NIL car family to buy 2 ?
# Even if such a law gets passed , is it
possible / practical to monitor its compliance in case of some
2.8 million new cars being manufactured /
sold , each year ? Does the government
have the necessary
administrative machinery to enforce it ?
# What is the definition of a " family
" ? Who is considered a member of a " family " ?
# What to do in case a person owning a car marries
another person , also owning a car ? Or adopts one ?
You see , this gets very
messy !
I believe , that ROAD TRANSPORT POLICY ,
requested by the High Court , should comprise of following elements :
# GOAL
To reduce no of vehicles
on the roads , in order to speed up travel and reduce pollution
# POLICY INSTRUMENTS
* Discouragement to manufacture / sale of
Petrol / Diesel vehicles
*
Discouragement for owning of Petrol / Diesel vehicles
* Discouragement
for " Owning " any vehicle at all
*
Encouragement for manufacture of Electric Vehicles
* Encouragement for " owning " of
Electric Vehicles
* Encouragement
for using " Public Transport " / " Ride Sharing Taxies "
# HOW ?
*
Heavy taxation on manufacturers of Petrol /
Diesel vehicles ( 50 % Corporate Income Tax ? )
* Heavy " Annual Road Tax " on owners
of Petrol / Diesel vehicles ( Rs 5
lakh/ year , ala SINGAPORE model )
* Heavy
taxation when a person buys a Petrol / Diesel vehicle ( 30 % GST
? ), raising " Cost of Owning
"
* ZERO
Corporate Income Tax for manufacturers of Electric Vehicles ( for
10 years )
*
Only 5 % GST on sale of Electric Vehicles ( 0 % if vehicle is
DRIVER-LESS ? )
* No GST ( total exemption ) for purchase of Electric
Vehicles by Public
Transport Companies ( including " Ride
Sharing
Taxies )
*
Total exemption from Road Tax for Electrically driven , Ride Sharing
Taxies / Public Transport Buses ,
enabling them to offer rides at Rs 1 per km (
2 days back , OLA reduced
it to Rs 3 per km ! )
* Carbon
Credit ( thru DBT ? ) of Rs 1 per Km , for both the rider and the
owner of an
Electric Vehicle bases
Public Transport ( including Ride Sharing
Taxies ) , as explained in my
earlier emails to Shri Nitin Gadkariji :
No comments:
Post a Comment