news approved.

This is purely ridiculous!!! Why not control the manufacturers that will help in supply shortage rather than levying taxes on common man!!! Ideally, the Govt should address the root of the problem in ENFORCING law & order, proper driver education by eradicating corruption & RTO.

Does any other country have a congestion fee being levied? Anyone knows?

PS - At this rate, no wonder even if we are imposed with Children & Parent tax

Imposing tax is not going to help if the Public transport is not improved.

UK is one. there are congestion charges in London.
Delhi has one of the best public transport systems , still people dont use it.

I agree..strongly.. even singapore does it .. called E R P charges.. upto Rs 250 in indian value.. this definetly keeps a LOT of traffic away from the roads.. encouraging people to use public transport..

Delhi has one of the best public transport systems but Delhis lifeline Metro is slowly turning into Mumbai's local train. They are always stuffed with people and when going to places like kashmeere gate or Rajiv chowk, one needs to squeeze into the crowd. A/C buses are still very short in numbers and traveling in non-AC bus in summers is hell.

Its human nature to oppose changes.
Here its more about convinience than sense that drives our daily decisions. Instead of taking any change optimistically, we normally stand against it with statements of conclusions.
Personally, I would say if we wait for this to happen and try this out, it may just be a small (or large) step towards reducing traffic on Delhi streets. However, even if this does not change anything, we know sooner or later the athorities will have to think of something.
My conclusion would be, instead of coming to conclusions and trying to pin point the wrong points, it may just be better if we try it out first and then if it dosen't make a difference, then raise a voice or do something else to get such kind of stuff off the rule books.

P.S Please don't take this personally and kindly do not react without considering the above points.

^ I agree slightly on the change part, but otherwise, I don't agree.

My Questions:

1. Instead of congestion tax, Why not enable subsidy on govt owned public transport? Govt.'s Income??

2. Why not enable tax on people under-utilising their transports? A SUV owner should be fined heavily if he travels alone in a SUV with 8 seats.
People will use Car pool due to this, which will decrease transport much better than any damn tax will..
This way, only one SUV owner would be fined, and he won't be able to gather many people in his support, because its not everyone's issue. Moreover, people should show that they have a family bigger than (say) 2 people to buy a car. A healthy youth travelling alone shouldn't be allowed a car.

3. We don't have enough infrastructure or workforce to implement it correctly and fairly. People will evade it somehow.

4. A Parking fine of 250 or so rupees will not discourage anyone to purchase vehicles. Because, one usually doesn't consider these things while purchasing a vehicle.
However, if the "on road" cost is higher due to some "area" tax, it might force people to rethink their plans.

I would love to get answers on my questions and comments...!

totally agree except in bolds. Delhi (as a matter of fact every Indian city) has lot more to achieve in terms of sufficient, sustainable and world class public transport. Delhi Metro alone is taking too much toll on itself now.

Can you imagine what effect that would bring if the tax is imposed? several new toll plazas will be in place surrounding city entry points. Now if anyone knows what kind of havoc goes on DND in peak hours, i dont have to tell you anymore what catastrophic effect it will be on traffic management, environment and commuters when every car/truck/van/bus/taxi would try to enter Delhi from NCR and other region. The Q will be in Kilometers and cloud above would be black.

Samarth, you made me reply in this thread coz of your post

1. even if you make it free, you can't make it crowd/body odour/rowdy commuter free. one of many such reasons lot of people choose not to take public transport currrently and rather enjoy in their AC car with music on.

2. That totally ridiculous point Samarth. Every Indian car has 4 seats, not every car goes full every morning, not even a Nano. You want another tax/penalty for that?

3. I believe a successful city public transport is the one which leaves no choice for people but to use it because its 100 times good, economical and comfortable than their own car and bike. How that can be done, I dont know.

4. As a matter of fact more tax on new cars in Delhi (which has been introduce already) and increase parking charge, will discourage people to take their cars out BUT only if they have a second choice of moving around in terms of good public transport which we dont have anywhere. so its a full circle you see. some want but they cant bcoz they have no other choice.

And in other things, why don't Delhi introduces Hyderabad like Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). Two enclosed and secure lanes dedicated only for public buses. It has prove to reduce congestion on Hyderabad road by a large margin.

This is great news. Hopefully the government will not buckle and take this up. Its incredible to see the number of cars being added to Delhi roads everyday. Delhi has one of the widest roads, n number of flyovers, AC buses, Non-AC CNG buses, Metro and other modes of transport. Still, its impossible to cater to the growing needs of this metro without this congestion tax. Hopefully, we can look forward to more people carpooling/using buses/motorcycles.

I strongly Agree to Government's Decision of levying Tax on Busy Areas ....

On what basis, if I may know

IMO, first thing the Govt should do is ENFORCE the existing law strictly from the paper to reality & then start thinking about making new laws!!!

Once the LokPal Bill is passed successfully, we might be able to see some real rules being implemented.. In the meanwhile, the govt CAN implement the Congestion charges on a temporary basis and find out the ways and means to ensure that lesser cars are brought in on the roads everyday.. Something similar to the LICENSE RAJ of the 80's where you had to wait to buy some vehicle.. I know this sounds bad.. But, how else on earth can one expect a politician having 10 cars already to stop buying a 11th car..

Our country has been mismanaged enough.. Lets wake up to the stark reality and have large enough gonads to accept the truth that we need to cut down on lavishness..

this congestion charge is usefull only if the money collected is used to improve the condition of roads, but this will not happen, it will only go to places we don't want.

why doesn't govenrment improve the roads, widen it?? instead of just finding a way to collect money.

congestion charge WTF, don't we pay road tax ?? not to mention toll taxes........even for potholes filled roads.