At a time when there is a decline in the prices of petroleum products worldwide, India has not followed the deregulation route in true spirit and has raised the excise segment on fuel three times since November. This kind of pricing has not helped much in keeping the prices of essential commodities at check and politically the move has proved disastrous for UPA and now NDA is also following the same line. The higher excise duty on petrol make diesel looks cheaper but is one of the worst polluter as it is easy to adulterate. This price difference in fuel has helped in diesel driven vehicle sales see quantum jump in the recent past but nobody has bothered to see the impact it has on the environment. In winters the signs of growing crisis is very much evident with the low hanging smog which impairs visibility on the roads and choke lungs of the people especially those who are prone to breathing and asthmatic ailment. Even the small children are falling victim to these unseen health problems lurching in the environment. With high-end vehicles using diesel as fuel it has become no more a poor man’s fuel as conceived earlier especially before the auto revolution India saw in 1990. The consumption of diesel is more in private vehicles as compared to government vehicles especially road transport buses and other allied department vehicles are concerned if one takes the growing population of later into account. Swachch Bharat Abhiyan did make people pick up the broom to clean the surroundings even though majority of them were just photo ops for publicity and cleanliness is still faraway but people can think of clear environment as there is an urgent need to check the growing pollution especially auto-emission, so that the health of the people especially children is not jeopardised.
