Reduce the consumption of Petrol & Diesel

No space for Cycles! 

As Mr. Moily dabbles with various outrageous suggestions on reduction of fuel consumption, I thought of giving my suggestions as well. Please note that these are all serious and workable suggestions and I hope that the government looks at them and better still, implements them. 

1.       Make CNG easily available: Every morning I see long queues and hence traffic jams near CNG filling stations. If getting the gas is going to be so inconvenient and painful, I have no incentive to get my car converted. CNG has multiple benefits and this suggestion must be worked on immediately. Benefits:

a.       Reduction in consumption of petrol, saving the DOLLAR.

b.      Reduction in pollution.

c.       Reduction in traffic jams, leading to further saving of fuel.

2.       Improve Last mile connectivity: Metro stations, in many places, let out people in no man’s land. Eg., HUDA CITY CENTER. The stations should be connected via FOB to nearby place of interest including malls, offices etc, so that people do not have to walk on the road. Benefits:

a.       More people will be encouraged to use Metro as it is dependable and safer anyway.

b.      All the benefits of point 1.

3.       Ban production and trade of Fuel guzzling vehicles.  Big SUVs and cars that run for less than 6 Kmpl should be banned. Charge high custom duty, excise duty for those that run less than 10 Kmpl. Penalty could be in the form of higher excise and custom duties. Benefits:

a.       Reduced demand for such vehicles (Hopefully)

b.      Dollar saved for import of such banned vehicles

c.       Lower pollution

d.      More space on roads – hopefully for cycles.

e.      Extra money for government that it can spend on making cycle tracks!

4.       Ban all politicians and their families from using such SUVs. Penalise the owner, If a beacon is found on a vehicle that runs at less than 10Kmpl fuel consumption. Benefits:

a.       Earn the respect from the common man (you can’t under estimate their power)

b.      All Benefits of Point 3

5.       Stop licence distribution. Let’s face it. We do not really have strict training and exams for getting a driver’s license. It is almost like a birth right that is distributed very easily to almost anyone. There should be a strict course for this and all licence seekers must pass this. Make sure all drivers go through strict tests, regularly. Benefits:

a.       Less accidents

b.      Less traffic Jams

c.       Easier introduction of new rules and technology

6.       Create Designated cycle paths:  If there are secure paths and well lit roads, Many young executives working in various IT firms could use cycles for their daily commute. Many young kids could use cycles to go to school and after school activities. Benefits:

a.       Fit young population

b.      Great impetus to local cycle industry

c.       All benefits of Point 1

7.       Create Cycle Stands: Make all buildings, malls, high street markets, schools etc. have parking space for at least 200 cycles. Only if this is done, will point 5 will happen. Benefits:

a.       All of point 6.

8.       Create and maintain Pavements: There is a beautiful walk path along the road that leads to Delhi’s T3 Airport. All roads must have such pavements for walking so that many executives living 2 KM away from offices can walk to their offices. Benefits:

a.       Employment generation: more work for labour and road side vendors.

b.      Fit population

c.       All benefits of point 1

9.       Create Exclusive Non-Motor areas: this may not be easy but we can try and create some spaces where no car, motorcycle, etc is allowed. Ever! More people walking, playing, eating, shopping etc. Benefits:

a.       More tourism. Such areas, if around Historical monuments attract many tourists

10.   Make parking very expensive: Once the above points are taken care of and there is infrastructure in the city to use cycles or just walk, then reduce the car parking spaces and make it very expensive. Benefits:

a.       More space for recreation, trees

b.      All benefits of point 1

A lot of my friends will have more suggestions and they may even discard few of those mentioned above and I respect that. Even though every point of view is open for debate but one thing is clear that we need to change the path we are on. It is nothing but a road to self-destruction.

May the debate begin. May the work begin. May the change begin!

Price of Freedom

An author makes an innocent tweets and a politician challenges her to come to the street to be “given the treatment” by his blind followers. She takes up the challenge and continues to write against these new age loud mouth politicians. She exercises her freedom.

A civil servant takes the fight to the big time politicians and their kin to expose their corrupt dealings and ways of amassing huge wealth. Under all kinds of threats he continues to push the system and ask beaurocrats to “do their duty well” to stop scams from happening. He exercises his freedom.

There are many stories of many whistle blowers, social workers and other ordinary citizens who have raised their voice against wrong. Some have been successful and some not. Some got us to follow them and raise the decibel of their shout while others were just left fighting all alone. No matter what was the eventual result of their fight, these are the people who exercise their freedom and fight for their freedom. In my terminology, they are the current age freedom fighters. They fight to keep their and our freedom intact.

Margaret Hefferman, http://www.mheffernan.com/, a keynote speaker and author talks about it. She says, “Freedom Exists, because we use it!” It’s like an iron utensil which will rust if not used.

If we choose to keep quite, those given the power by us will not sit calmly, they will grab our right to speech. If we don’t vote, those who could have got a thumbs down from us, will abolish elections and take away our right to choose. If we choose to let them, they will take away our right to live and right to die with or without dignity.

So let’s pay the price for freedom. Exercise it, use it. In our small ways, we can change our world.

16^th Aug 2013