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