I am planning to buy a car in the price range of Rs.
8 – 11 Lakhs. My best choice remains Hyundai Creta, an SUV. But given the
latest stupidity of Mr Arvind Kejriwal of plying odd-even car numbers on
alternate days, it might be better if I buy two hatchbacks in the price range
of Rs 5.00 Lacs with one in odd number and the other even. But then I was just
discussing with my friend, why the hell two cars for this stupidity and buy
Creta from Haryana and you are good. Govt will not be able to track other
States car coming in and out of Delhi.
Before I make my decision to buy new car, let’s take
a look at the buffoonery of Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP Govt. in Delhi. I
understand his predicament with Mr Modi and why and how Central Govt. is not
allowing them to function the way they want to and their head is stuck in their
asses. But if Modi has gotten Kejriwal’s head stuck in his own ass that does
not give the right to Kejriwal to harass the people of Delhi. He may continue
his fight in whichever way he feels comfortable with the PM but he can leave
people out of it and not drag everybody into the mud.
Odd-Even Alternate alternative is done in the wage of
standing attack against the Govt. of Delhi to not able to do anything to
provide clean air to the people. The environmentalists have been sounding the
bugle to do something for quite some time and this is what the Govt. can offer
its people in lieu of the fact that Delhi’s air can be cleaned.
It seems Mr Kejriwal has still not gotten into the
mode that he is the CM and not the protestor against the Central Govt. I mean
he had no issues to get into the suit of the politician when he is fighting for
rights and autonomy from Modi Govt. or hugging the messiah of masses/chariot of
Fodder Scam, Mr Laloo Yadav to make political statement but CM suit is too big
for his size.
If the said solution to control pollution is to
embarrass the Home Ministry because Delhi Police is under Home Ministry then I
guess he has struck bang on. Again a political statement but not for something
for which their party, apparently termed AAP, got huge mandate to govern Delhi.
Such stupidity or idiotic order is pretty difficult for Delhi Police to comply
especially when there is shortage of staff, the VIPs they have to protect, keep
a check on terrorist elements and last but not least protecting people of Delhi.
Implementing such an order will be an administrative
nightmare for Delhi Police. What will be the happenstance of hundreds of
thousands of people commuting from NCR to Delhi for jobs, work and business?
Will this apply to them as well or only to vehicles with Delhi number plates.
This order will wreak havoc on dealers/agents dealing in automobiles in Delhi
and not to mention the revenue loss to Delhi Govt.
I understand and I stand with the environmentalists
that we may send our kids to Moon but we will struggle to offer our next gen
clean air and adequate water. The present generation has to set its foot in the
door to try and jam the process. I am sure as a nation, as a State, as a person
we can do better than odd-even number alternate days solution. There have been
other nations where such formula was implemented but it failed.
In Singapore, Govt. has imposed such high taxes on
cars that they discourage people to own cars due to paucity of space in their
city country. But at the same time, the Govt. has provided an excellent metro
network interconnected with Mercedes feeder buses and other shuttle services
which uses single payment system, cards issued by Metro Authority, that one is
really comfortable using their public transportation system. For people who
enjoy driving on their own, there is alternate system of cars with red number
plates which can ply on roads from 8 PM to 8 AM, Sundays and national holidays.
A nation is developed not when the poor can afford
cars but when rich can use the means developed for the poorest. Mumbaiites have
more resources than Delhiites but still they use public transport system
because their feeder system is auto-rickshaws and kaali-peeli (black-yellow)
cabs which are professional and efficient. They don’t waste their time and
commuters time by haggling over fares instead honestly take the shortest route
and charge you to the exact paise on the basis of the rates set by Govt. and
hardly ever say NO to a customer, no matter how short the journey route may be.
But in Delhi, Kejriwal’s vote bank are auto rickshaw drivers who will quote
double or triple the fares or else take you on Delhi darshan for destination
which is stone’s throwaway from you. Delhi’s autos and taxis hardly switch on
the meter and worse they will ply on their favourite routes and not to
commuters service.
To control pollution, traffic regulation has to be
studied and mined and mapped more appropriately so that halted vehicles and
slow moving traffic do not pollute uncessantly on roads but the traffic has
unrestricted flow. To follow Mr Modi, who is working so hard to generate the
additional power required for the nation through solar and wind farms for which
he is gaining laurels internationally. Modiji is offering subsidy/incentives to
people building solar/wind farms. Individuals who are installing solar panels
on their roof tops, incentivizing them to switch to clean energy.
More updates are coming for the policy, but my
question is, so many people drive in from Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and
Rajasthan everyday for meeting purposes to Delhi, will it apply to them as
well? Women are exempt from this scheme, which means people will be clobbering
into the cars of their woman colleagues. Worse if it applies to taxis and
autos. Companies are already thinking on how to ensure their workers reach
office without the convenience of driving in their own car which they own but
is parked at home. Delhi is full of jugaadis, let’s see what innovation they
bring to beat the Govt. for their stupidity. More so, second hand car dealers
will rake in moolah and definitely the number of cars purchased will go up. In six
months, we will be back to the same traffic and same pollution from cars if
this scheme continues for long.
The question and issue of Motorcycles/Scooters has not been brought into this article, that how much an aam aadmi will be harassed by the notification of Delhi Govt. run by Aam Aadmi Party.
Do we foresee accusation of hiked bribes by Home Ministry and Delhi Police by AAP?
Delhi Govt. can levy more taxes on diesel and reduce
taxes on petrol as petrol is much cleaner than diesel. Removal of taxes on CNG
kits so that more people shift to CNG, which is cleanest alternative and
cheaper as well and increase accessibility and availability of CNG.
Considerable reduction of taxes on cars running on batteries will be beneficial.
Making your Pollution Check Centres efficient that they do not renew
certificates of vehicles which do not pass the standards.
A person who is buying a car is already paying road
tax upto 8% for roads and pollution in addition to the excise duty, sales tax
on the vehicle they have paid and still Govt. has the audacity to show its
stupidity. A person who owns a vehicle is paying approximately 25 – 30% as
taxes to the Govt. one way or the other and the least the Govt. can offer is to
allow them to drive their vehicle to their convenience on whatever conditions
of roads the Govt. had provided.
But instead Kejriwal is working hard to prove Mr
Jaitey right, that the experiment that Delhi’s people have undertaken with AAP
will only be a hindrance to the people. Everything is a protest for Kejriwal
and he doesn’t seem to understand the word or term, “Governance”.
Come January 1st, we may see a bigger mess
on Delhi roads.
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