Carbon footprints and toll taxes.
In the process of globalization India has marched well ahead as far as collecting the toll is concerned. India may be collecting more toll than many developed countries. The several toll booths and the speed breakers, before and after them are really painful and pinching for the vehicles, drivers and vehicle owners. All the people paying the toll, collecting the toll and those who are not concerned with it, will have to pay a heavy price for the severe pollution due to wastage of fuel in and around the toll booths and octroi posts. In figures the cost of fuel wasted and the pollution caused due to toll booths, octroi posts and speed breakers could be much more than the money collected there.
During the last five years all the Indians have paid more than 1 Rupee per kilometer toll for the distance they have travelled. In many cases this could be more than 1 Rupee per kilometer of travel depending on the number of toll booths installed privately and by the Government. If you have to go to Airoli from Thane, which is about 5 km., you have to pay Rs. 60/- as toll one way. This amounts to Rs. 12/- per km. If you go to Pune from Mumbai you end up paying Rs. 195/- as toll one way and spend at least 15 minutes on the toll booths. This amounts to more than one Rupee per km. Is this as per any guidelines and which court has permitted this is a matter of research.
All the attempts to get the details like how much toll has been collected so far, how it was utilized and how much toll is to be collected in the coming years from the toll collecting gangs have failed miserably. None of the leaders has seriously tried to make this information open to public and the media has also not chased this issue with a aim to get some solution. It is high time that the media should take some constructive steps to abolish toll, octroi and entry tax and get rid of the speed breakers. The media should raise such issues rather than chasing a gossip in the bollywood.
The toll collection methodology followed presently is totally one sided, unjust and bias. Without giving any reasons the toll was increased from Rupees 15 to 20 and then to 25 and now to 30 in spite of the tremendously increasing number of vehicles. The number of vehicles has multiplied in the past few years and the toll should have actually reduced proportionately as the collection must have been much more than the projections. There is no transparency in the tendering of the toll contract and all the information about the toll tender is maintained as a top secret. If the Government wants to collect Rs. 500 crores then the toll collecting contract should be restricted to that amount. There is nobody to question the Government that on what basis the contract is lined up for 15 years or 20 years? The toll contracts which should be money bound are deliberately made time bound because it is the easiest money and people have no resistence left.
In reality all the Governments should be wealthy because of the revenues and taxes like income tax, sales tax, excise, service tax, house tax, tree tax, road tax, stamp duty, octroi, education tax, professional tax and so on. The Government is supposed to provide good roads, water, electricity and other amenities in the funds they so collect. But we find all the Governments begging for money. Due to this begging tendency the Government has to build bridges on BOT conditions. Once this is done the Government has to dance on the tune of the contractors and victimize the public in the process. Instead of this the Government should have ample money to build bridges and roads. It is fine if the Government wants to do it with public money. Just increase the petrol and Diesel prices by 50 paise per litre for these jobs. With this extra 50 paise the Government will be able to build bridges and roads all over the country within a short time. This extra 50 paise will avoid the traffic jams and delays near the toll and octroi posts. The leading industries in India are today getting ISO certifications to claim that they are not causing harm to the environment. But as a country we are causing serious damage to the environment by wasting fuel at the toll and octroi posts and on speed breakers.
The extra 50 paise will be able to abolish the toll and octroi completely and there will be no injustice on anyone. Anyone using 200 litres fuel monthly will spend 100 Rupees extra and the one using 50 litres of fuel monthly will spend 25 Rupees extra. This will not be a burden on anyone. But by paying the toll and octroi we are directly or indirectly spending more money than the proposed extra 50 paise. Secondly all the money collected as toll and octroi is not spent on public works. Lot of money is spent in maintaining the systems collecting toll and octroi. The Government should realize that people won’t mind paying extra for good roads but taking extra money from the people in the form of toll for paying the contractor’s employees and for the contractor’s profit is like Jizia Kar in the history.
The extra 50 paise proposed on petrol and Diesel will on the other hand go directly to the Government treasury without any extra cost through the existing network only. Forty years back the Government had collected money for the Bangladesh war by putting surcharge on Bus, rail and movie tickets. It went on smoothly for several years when there were no computers. There were no agencies hired for collecting money on behalf of the Government and all the money collected went straight to the Government without any pilferage. The technology is much advanced now and computers can do virtually anything today. The extra 50 paise so collected on petrol pumps can be disbursed to the concerned Muncipalities as compensation for Octroi and to the agencies for building roads. The Government can get rid of the debts of all the contractors. In future there won’t be any BOT projects required. The Government can take up all such projects with its own finance and people will not be required to pay huge interest on the money government is borrowing from contractors. The people of INDIA will be proud of such self dependent Government.
Today thousands of people are paying toll and octroi by standing or sitting in long ques, finding their way through traffic jams on bad roads. Most of the flyovers have joints where the level difference is 1 to 3 inches and the landing from fly over to the road is also very bumpy because of level difference. People are bumping their cars and damaging their backbones and then paying toll after bumping again on series of speed breakers. This exhibit of shameless tolerance can be seen day and night throughout the country. I don’t think it can happen anywhere else in the world. I am also one of the shameless characters in the tolerance exhibit. For convenience, comfort and for saving time more people are going to use cars in the future. The number of vehicles is going to multiply in the times to come. Unless these traffic jamming and polluting octroi and toll booths are eradicated the vehicle movement will not be possible in the future.
Once we get rid of the octroi and toll posts and the speed brakers, there will be tremendous saving in the fuel, which will increase the foreign reserves. In a longer run we as a country will be able to reduce the fuel prices by avoiding the wastage of fuel in traffic jams and get Carbon credits for less emission. There may be some objections in getting rid of the speed breakers. But we must find solutions to these problems and get rid of the speed breakers. Few years back the Court had given a decision to remove all the speed breakers for the same reason. That time contracts were lined up to remove the speed breakers and now contracts are being lined up to construct new speed breakers without any standards and specifications. Whenever any vehicle has to be stopped either for a pedestrian carelessly crossing the road or for a speed breaker, fuel is wasted and pollution increases. This is well known and need not be told again. But when a person stops for the vehicle to pass, nothing is wasted. This needs to be told to people at all levels. Instead of building speed breakers every corner, there should be a speed limit at such places. People on the roads should follow their rules and vehicle owners should follow their rules. Anyone breaking the traffic rules and the drivers driving irresponsibly causing traffic jams should be punished strictly. If the police could achieve this we will be proud of such police and such Government.
(Satish B. Kunte)
Ganga Bhuwan,
Brahmin Colony,
Naupada, Thane (W),
Pin: 400 602.
Tel: 2540 1032. Email: sbkunte@rcfltd.com
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