Aam Admi Party seems to be hell bent on implementing the odd-even formula to control air pollution in Delhi. I read Ashutosh strongly advocating this formula on the NDTV website. I also read Suma Raha expressing doubts about the probable effectiveness of this formula on the Times of India website. Chief Justice of India, T S Thakur, supported the Delhi government’s decision to allow odd and even number cars to ply on alternate days from January 1. However Sweta Kapoor, a lawyer, has challenged the formula in Delhi High Court as she thought that imposition of such a policy/law would be contrary to public interest and has been imposed without any public debate or discussion and without understanding the situation and facts and circumstances in India. In this context let me share my thoughts on this issue.
I think Kejriwal is behaving like a modern day Muhammad bin Tughluq. You will be surprised to note that he said that the formula would be tested for 15 days and would be scrapped if it is hard on citizens. Is he a responsible CM of a state or is he a class XI student interested in finding a new formula in the Chemistry laboratory? He is going to take a radical step which would effectively curtail 50% of private cars per day. 50% of private cars! That's a huge number! This pressure will have to be taken by the already overburdened public transport system of Delhi, which is neither adequate nor effective, besides being unsafe. Can't Kejriwal forsee the amount of hardship he is going to cause on the office goers, women and differently abled people? Or, would he love to see them suffering for 15 days?
Does my above paragraph mean that Kejriwal shouldn't do anything to control the level of air pollution, which has already reached an alarming level, in Delhi? Of course, he should, but not by such knee jerk reactions. So what should he do? He should have tried to reduce the number of vehicles by 10% and not 50%. How? In the 1st, 11th, 21st and 31st days of month, vehicles whose last digits are 1 could have been restricted. Similarly, on 2nd ,12th and 22th days of the month, vehicles with last digit 2 could have been restricted and so on. This wouldn't have caused much difficulties to the commuters. In the meantime, he could have improved the public transport system.
He should also ban old polluting vehicles, including the ageing buses in a phase wise manner.
The most effective step from an economist's point of view would be to impose heavy motor vehicle, which should be annual, and toll taxes. On one hand, this will ensure good revenue for the state, and on the other hand this will filter out the unnecessary car users from the road.
A green vehicle is a road motor vehicle that produces less harmful impacts to the environment than comparable conventional internal combustion engine vehicles running on gasoline or diesel. Presently, in some countries the term is used for any vehicle complying or surpassing the more stringent European emission standards (such as Euro6).
Green vehicles are powered by alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies and include hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, battery electric vehicles, hydrogen and fuel-cell vehicles etc. Kejriwal should encourage green vehicles by exempting taxes partially or completely for few years.
Pictures taken from net
Some people here were claiming that odd-even rule would significantly reduce air pollution. The results are out. See for yourself.
ReplyDeleteDelhi Breath Analyzer: Major swings in pollution through odd-even trial
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Delhi-Breath-Analyzer-Major-swings-in-pollution-through-odd-even-trial/articleshow/50595652.cms
"If the charts in article are true then the air quality index was much better before the odd-even automobile number driving restrictions put in place as in most of the places average air quality index during the 15 days is much higher then the restriction started. This means other factors such as larger pollution contributors like big industries may have been more of the root cause. Auto restrictions may be small factor and it may be good eye wash to fool the people based on the data shows in the graphs."