Tata Nano, people's car as it promises to be, has brought forward various debates. The topic of this blog is effect on environment.
Environmentalists think that Cheaper car -> More people buy them -> More cars on already crowded roads -> Slower traffic -> More pollution. And rightly so.
Chief Minister of Maharashtra Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh has already aired his apprehensions upon popularity of such vehicles and its effect on traffic. You can read more about it in the following links. http://www.surfindia.com/news/fullstory.php?ref=1192614 http://www.saharasamay.com/samayhtml/Articles.aspx?NewsId=92614
Some people think that this is "Elitist's View". Ratan Tata countered this by pointing out few things:
1. It's worth it because it would make lives safe by moving people from bike to car (and I agree with it overwhelmingly).
2. It can also make some people buy less polluting car (i.e. Nano) than other relatively high polluting cars because of small engine size.
3. Its primarily the Rural India that is target market for this car.
For all those environmentalists and those in power, the Tata has just set a trend and more and more car are expected to become cheap because of Tata Nano. The problem is not the Tata Nano itself, but the pathetic state of Public Transport System. The thing that Nano shall do is convert more people from bikes to car and early.
Who wants to drive? Nobody. But there is no alternative in most of the cities. Public transport is so bad that people risk their lives by commuting a far as 8 meters on bikes. With more Nanos on the road, the situation will become even more bleak, and I am sure people would not take out the cars unless it is absolutely necessary.
The one and only way to move people from using personal vehicles is providing effective public transport. If that is done, people can buy more cars but not use them as much and road can become even freer.
Other measures be taken to curb the usage of personal vehicles like heavy parking fees in cities, city fuel surcharge and non-subsidized fuel. However these are extreme. Without effective transport to back them, this can be nuisance and are always avoidable because of democratic nature of local governing bodies.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
DOWN WITH NANOS! DOWN WITH NANOS! SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT! BURN THE PLANTS!
I agree wholly with nanosuck. The Nano is a health and enviroment hazard. Burning the plants is a bit extreme...
Screw the environment. the nano is too slow, we need more fast cars and hummers on the road. you tree huggers are weak. who cares about the environment if u got a cool car?
Post a Comment