Recently, Govt of Delhi has raised the registration fee for Diesel vehicles to 25 percent.
Intentions of the Govt may be good, but as usual, it doesn't seem to have done its home work. By raising the registration fee, will the consumption of Diesel reduce? Perhaps not, because those who purchase high priced diesel SUVs at prices ranging from Rs 25 lakh onwards to close to Rs 45 lakhs don't care about the price of diesel. May be, it will add to Govt's kitty to some extent.
In this process, Govt seems to have overlooked the diesel taxis who survive on day to day basis. Can the taxi owner who lives on daily collection and or is committed to EMIs afford another cost? As a consequence of price increase, the auto and bus fares are bound to increase by which only the poor man will get hit.
If raising revenue was the real intention, should Govt not have checked other areas of high diesel consumption?
Reportedly, following are the highest consuming areas
1...BTS-commonly known as Mobile Towers.
Mobile Towers need a 100 % power back up to ensure, should mobile services get cut off considering the awful power supply position in the country. Hypothetically, diesel for mobiles towers could be sold even at Rs 100 per liter. For all one cares, it may increase the call rate by a few paisas only. With the kind of mobile phone density in India, 2G alleged scam one would presume that Govt is unable to displease the telecoms lobby, especially when five State elections are not too far. I would not know the absolute numbers, but, for sure the extra revenue from mobile towers will be far greater than that of diesel vehicles additional registration fees. It is up to the Govt to first know what exactly does it want, which in this case seems hazy.
2.....Shopping Malls
We may not have bothered to actually use it as a case study, but, I won't be surprised if Shopping Malls are only second to mobile towers as far as diesel consumption is concerned. Can one imagine a shopping mall without electricity for even five minutes? A 100 % power back is a must in the malls. One would expect the Govt to have raised cost price of diesel to the Malls. Be it for the purpose of raising the revenue or be it a deterrent. Let’s not forget, the maintenance charges in malls vary from Rs 15 per sq ft onwards. Will another a few paisas really matter to them? However, general feeling is that under pressure from lobbyists, Govt won’t displease the shop owners in the malls. It May not be a coincidence,but,quite a few of the shop owners are politicians who are by themselves are decision makers and are beneficiaries .
In the meantime, few like me are still counting Zeros in 1.76 lakh crores.
Some are counting yesterday’s earning to ensure they are not above Rs 32/.
let us CHANGE INDIA for INDIA OF TOMORROW
posted 14/10/11,b k chowla
2 comments:
Very good suggestions, Chowlaji! Will anyone listen to them? Esp. the raising of call rates of mobile phones will not affect anyone that much!
As you said, shops in Malls are controlled by the politicians and nobody dare touch them!
Pure hypocrisy. The govt pretends Diesel vehicles are a luxury and increse the cost. The ones suffering will be those who really don't have the diesel vehicle.
The suggestions were orginal and need to be implemented
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