Increasing the price of petrol is the best way to solve growing traffic and pollution problems. To what extent do you agree and disagree? What other measures do you think might be effective?

Is increasing the petrol price the best way to solve pollution problems? According to me, the answer is no and in

this

essay, I shall explain how increasing

this

idea is counterproductive and suggest some other means of reducing air production problems. I would like to base my argument on why it is not a good idea to increase fuel prices. For a lot of people, owning a car is a necessity more than a luxury. People in some of the developing countries travel to work for almost 50 miles every day in their vehicles, mostly, because of the non-availability of public resources

such

as buses and trains.

Also

, people have started using tractors for agricultural activities of ploughing. If we increase the price of petrol, these people shall be badly affected. Even though we cannot contain the use of diesel in the agricultural domain, the government can work on providing basic amenities like transport buses and short distance trains which people can use; not only because it is economical, but

also

because it would help in lesser greenhouse emissions. Consider the example of a survey conducted by Van-Shetra, a small company in the outskirts of Mumbai city, which, according to the results published on its web portal, state that increasing public transport facility leads to 30% less consumption of fuel. Let us look at the measure that can be taken for decarbonization.

Firstly

, almost all the countries in the world have started following BS-VI norms seriously. The BS norms is a measure that keeps in check the amount of Carbon Monoxide and other deadly gases being released by vehicles. It is the responsibility for each country to strictly adhere to it and eventually phase out the vehicles not following the norms.

This

may be tough on the end-user, but we need to create a better environment for our future generations.

Secondly

, we need to start finding alternative sources of energy to power our cars. Consider the example of Tesla, who has made a headstart with the rollout of Electric based cars. Their sales have rocketed and more and more people are considering switching over to clean form of energy. Phasing out and scrapping vehicles not adhering the latest BS norms is the way to go in the future. In my opinion, increasing the price of fuel adversely affects the poor and should be used only in case of exigency.

Also

, each country must take efforts to increase public transport facilities so that people are not mandated to buy vehicles. There are better ways to make people conscious about the pollution like using vehicles which consume a cleaner form of energy and strictly adhering to the latest edition of BSVI norms.