Wednesday, February 16 2005 18:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Part II

Transport Authorities: These are the authorities vested with the power to allow new vehicles to enter and run on the road. Do they have trends of explosive growth possible in India incoming five years time frame?

Do they know the feasible number for our current infrastructure; roads, fuel production and fuel outlets, servicing capabilities etc?

If they have the info relating to above two issues, what is their plan to keep a check on net number of vehicles plying on the roads? Can they think of retiring some of the vehicles from the road? Do they understand the socio economic impact of retiring vehicles?

Fuel Regulators such as the ministry of petroleum can play a role here. Do they have statistics of growing demand? The Oil sector companies book multiple growth statistics but can we sustain this kind of explosive growth of consumption? Do we have enough reserves, Oil or Forex to pay the oil bill? Can we continue financing such kind of consumption?

If we are seeing troubles in years to come, it is important to inform the citizens of this country who will take the shock later. Also the Government should actively work towards ways to fund the research for alternative fuels; alternative engines that can use different types of fuels and engines that can use fuel efficiently.

Environmental regulators who have to keep tab on the growing environmental pollution also have a responsibility to check the vehicular pollution. Do they have statistics about the growing levels of vehicular pollution? Can they retire vehicles that are polluting more? Can they think about socio economic impact of retiring vehicles? Can they think about strategies to make the vehicles more fuel-efficient and less polluting by encouraging better research in that area?

Town Planners: These are the authorities with powers to permit construction of any building in any piece of land. Do these planners understand the explosive growth set for the auto industry? Can they imagine which direction the cities are growing? Can they estimate the possible density of vehicles in a particular area over next two years and make plan for better roads or alternative roads?

Car Companies: They are doing business and so they may not think in terms of public welfare. But they need to think about providing space to drive the cars to keep this fantastic growth alive. If the cities start choking, they may face stagnation in sales growth. So they should effectively invest in studying the cities, traffic trends, growth trends and suggest alternative roads or any other ways to reduce the congestion. Some strong companies or the industry association of auto industry in India can take such initiative, which studies how to make the car buyer comfortable about buying.

General Public: These are the people wooed by the growth statistics and disposable incomes they can generate. They cannot abstain from buying just because the issue is leading to congestion. Every individual require that lifestyle and stopping that is not a correct procedure as well. But to make their own lives comfortable, these individuals should learn better driving skills, develop respect for each other so that the travel on the small, congested road becomes a better experience. If each individual stay in a cocoon and expect the others to change there is no way to make this world a better place.

While the euphoria of growing incomes in the middle class is resulting into greater competition for shared resources such as roads and parking places the regulators are blissfully enjoying the growth of indirect and direct taxes from the auto industry without thinking about finding alternative strategies to keep this country a live-able place for future citizens.