Pollution Control: Crying Need of the Hour
COME WINTER, THE AIR QUALITY IN DELHI HAS ONCE
again deteriorated to hazardous levels. Although cars are being blamed for the pollution, in reality, the stubble being burnt by farmers and the dust generated by construction sites is responsible. Fortunately, the authorities have not banned the sale of cars running on fossil fuels.
The fact remains that air quality across the country has deteriorated. The solution is to have a good mass urban transport system and decongest the roads with an elevated road system as in Bangkok. The BRT system creates more chaos because more than 60 per cent of the road is taken up by a handful of buses, whereas thousands of other vehicles have to travel on the remaining 40 per cent, of which some space is further occupied by parked vehicles. Pollution will automatically come down if there is free movement of traffic.
The air quality across India has deteriorated. The solution is a good mass urban transport system and decongest the roads with an elevated road system as in Bangkok
The government is constantly reducing the rate of GST on most of the commodities but the same is not done in respect of automobiles. With Suzuki and Toyota planning to launch electric cars in 2020, it is up to the government to build the necessary infrastructure and provide uninterrupted power supply to make sure that people do not have to struggle to charge their cars like they have to at present to fill their CNG tanks. In the interim, tax concessions on hybrid vehicles with sizeable electric motors are urgently called for.
EDITOR – ASPI BHATHENA
