Amidst the raging politics on petroleum pricing, a report has established that the country was losing Rs. 87,500 crore because of poor roads and tolling systems annually.
The figure gains significance against the backdrop of desperate attempts by the Union government to curb the subsidy outgo on petroleum products that puts a drain of approximately Rs. 1.38 lakh crore on the exchequer.
Going by the report, prepared by IIM-Calcutta on behalf of Transport Corporation of India, the stated loss of Rs. 60,000 crore accounts for almost 43 per cent of the drain the government is said to suffer due to growing consumption of diesel, kerosene, and LPG.
As a matter of fact, the loss due to defective road system is more than the under-recoveries on diesel, reported by the Petroleum Ministry, which was Rs. 81,192 crore in 2011-12, though it is estimated to rise to Rs. 1.07 crore in 2012-13.
Union Minister of Rural Development, Jairam Ramesh, has called for immediate steps to bring down the burden, and Petroleum Minister S. Jaipal Reddy has proposed a hefty additional tax on diesel vehicles.
The move has been opposed by Heavy Industry Minister Praful Patel, standing by the cause of the automobile manufacturers who are worried such a move would affect one segment of the industry that was already reeling under the impact of the global financial crisis.
According to the report on operational efficiency of freight transportation by road in India, no appreciable difference was noted in terms of average speed of vehicles, mileage, stoppage delays per km and stoppage expenses per tonne-km between 2008-09 and 2011-12. The report estimated that stoppage delays cost the economy approximately Rs. 27,500 crore per annum, and the impact of additional fuel consumption due to stoppage delays and slow speed of vehicles was around Rs. 60,000 crore.
The report called for immediate development of new roads, and widening and maintenance of the existing roads, besides shifting to electronic toll collection system, as the present one delayed each freight vehicle by approximately five to 10 minutes.
It also called for access-controlled expressways, and suggested that at least 18,637 km of expressway be built in the 13 Five-Year Plan. At present, India has just 600 to 700 km of access-controlled expressway, as against 74,000 km in China.
Glad somebody at at last pointed it out .We all know about this ,but its still ignored .Babus at the top are just making money for themselves and creating all the hype over high GDP .Good roads are a necessity for a developing country like ours .
Just goes to show that Indians are 'individually intelligent, but collectively lack in common sense'. Safe, durable, and reliable roads, traffic systems, enforceable traffic laws and a national standards are fundamental. So here we are an IT giant, a nuclear power etc, but yet most Indians don't have access to working toilets, running water, garbage collection, stable electricity and can't cross a street safely. The collective loss of productivity is staggering. Yet, there are pockets of excellence in these very areas. If Kerala gets education right, Chandigarh (urban planning), Tamil Nadu (bus transport) Gujarat (industrial capacity), Karnataka/AP (IT), Punjab(agriculture) etc, then experts from these areas must replicate their successes nationwide. Indians must learn to learn from each others strengths. Don't expect wily politicians (who look to elections not to solutions) to problem-solve. Throw inefficient bums out at election time. Solutions lie with the average Indian.
government is laying roads only for highways,unless it plans in streets and local city roads it is not going to make a difference in consumption.
Hats of to IIM guys......chak de friends.... we are still in the situation of paying tax amounts for our own earned money but where are they....! either in swiss or ....?
The dismal state of our roads certainly cause huge economic losses. But they cost even more in terms of human lives every year. We have by far the highest number of road deaths per vehicle in the world. Apart from routine lip service, no government has cared enough to tackle these death traps on a large scale.
Looks like superpower finally realized some truth. How many years did this take, and how many will it take to fix the problem now?
One must not expect any thing from this govt.This UPA govt both in first and second avatar enjoyed the good work of Vajpayee govt who has done remarkable work on road building.But it is right that people suffer because those who have enjoyed the fruit of development never turn out for vote and those who have grown on subsidies, govt wants to keep them as usual so that they will remain its vote bank.
I dont think the so called Government is at any time worried about increased petrol consumption due to bad roads.They appear to want more consumption anyhow to earn revenue from sales.If you take the NH 209 to Pollachi from Coimbatore the railway crossing there appoximately increases the consumption of fuel of all vehicles by an average 20% on a daily basis and if vehicles divert the journey increases each way by a good 5 km and I don't think any government officer,minister or any authority cares for the plight of the people or the consumption of fuel for that matter.
China was able to cover 74000kms of express way by controlled access as against 700kms in India ,because of a strong central administration.We do not have a central administration(central govt) today forget about it being strong!!Here in India if this has to happen then the local municipal authorities and the state governments to pitch in here to give priority for this topic creating good roads ;avoid these toll collections and find an alternative.
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