State’s population grew 16% in 2001-11, cars 158% But Experts Say Better Public Transport Crucial Before Any Deterrents

The transport department's move to levy a higher tax on every second car a family buys in Mumbai is prompted by the exponential growth in vehicles on the city's roads, but experts caution that a deterrent can only follow an improvement in the quality of the city's public transport.      Rishi Aggarwal of Mumbai Transport Forum, an alliance of active citizens working towards sustainable transport solutions, believes it is essential for the state to step up its public transport before it begins resorting to deterrent measures such as high taxes. "A lot of people using cars today use the justifiable argument that they can't get into overcrowded local trains or non-AC public buses. We need to give people  high quality choices in public transport before we deter them from bringing their cars out on the road," he said.      Transport expert Ashok Datar believes the state and Mumbai in particular, definitely needs measures to limit the number of cars on its streets. "We have limited resources in terms of road space and the exponential rise of cars vis-à-vis the population warrants measures such as increasing taxes, in principle," he says. He however, believes the devil will lie in the detail to determine whether such a tax would actually be effective in deterring people from buying more cars.      Maharashtra has not only registered the highest number of vehicles every year in the country in the decade since 2001, but has also added a staggering one crore cars in that period. The state's vehicular population has grown by 158% in the period from 2001 to 2011, while its population has correspondingly grown by only 16%.      Measures limiting vehicular population are in force the world over. Singapore for instance, levies a road tax equivalent to 120% of the car price on every new purchase. It also issues only a limited number of licence plates every year. Shanghai and Beijing too levy a similarly hefty road tax.  TIMES VIEW : The state government's move to hike the motor vehicles tax by 200% for families planning to buy a second car is unfair, and Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's argument that the rise in the number of cars on city roads is due to easy availability of car loans and good salaries in the IT sector is deeply flawed. The rise may have to do more with the greater freedom that women justly enjoy. Increasingly, in Indian families, two cars are needed because both husband and wife lead independent professional lives. To discourage women in the family from having their own cars by placing curbs in the shape of higher taxes is to turn the clock back.