Increasing the tax on petrol/diesel

Everyday thousands of commercial vehicles enter Delhi. For this they are charged an entry fees. But the government says it does not affect anything. Half of the time they do not pay the entry fees and hence it does not make any difference. So to restrict/minimize their entry, the government is thinking upon increasing the taxes on fuels like petrol/diesel. Encouraging carpooling Carpooling is sharing a car journey so that more than one person travels in a car. By having more people using one car, carpooling reduces each person’s travel cost, fuel cost and reduces the stress of driving. Carpooling is very environment friendly. School/college going kids and people working in 9-5 shifts can benefit themselves the most using this method. Government is planning to give some incentives to people who pool car on a regular basis. Let’s wait and watch what kind of incentives the government has in store for us. Change in the layout of roads and footpaths If the layout of footpaths and roads is such that there are separate lanes for every kind of vehicle viz. a different lane for buses, different lane for cars and a different one for two-wheelers, then every bus will reach on time at its destination. Same ways, footpaths will also have to be made user friendly so that it becomes easy for the pedestrians to walk. They should be well maintained, clean and suitable for walking. This way people would be encouraged to walk more and more. Commuting via cycles This is by far the most simple and the most effective way to reduce jams as well as pollution. Cycling to your destination not only saves fuel and prevents pollution; rather it makes you healthy and fit. In my foreign countries there are separated paths for cycles. This should be implemented in India too. And if this happens, firstly the pollution levels will go down at and exponential rate and on the other hand it will add on to reduce long traffic jams on roads. People will have to change their attitude as they treat bicycle as a “low-level” mode of transport. Rent – a – cycle In the major cities of India, metro has made its reach and has attracted many commuters. But the fact is that, people still take their cars and two wheelers to drive to a metro station. And after reaching their destination they still take an auto rickshaw or something to reach their workplace. This can be avoided if there are “Rent – a – cycle “booths at every 1 km or so. People will be encouraged to cycle as it is the cheapest mode of transport and everybody likes to save whatever he can. Promotion of battery operated vehicles Another very effective way to prevent pollution is usage of battery operated vehicles. Battery operated vehicles do not emit pollution, neither do they consume fuel. Hence double benefit. Government should introduce new concepts of battery operated vehicles and promote their use. Two-wheelers and cars should also be battery operated. Use of Hydrogen Fuel This is a new age technology. Hydrogen is a much efficient fuel than kerosene. Technology has been developed to harness hydrogen as a fuel. Research work is in process to harness it in vehicles. Lets us just hope in near future we can have cars that run on hydrogen. Benefits of a hydrogen fuel enabled car include its higher efficiency and its nature. Hydrogen fuel is the cleanest fuel developed till date i.e. very minimum pollution.