Delhiites may soon have to pay for adding to traffic congestion as, with an aim to curb air pollution, the Ministry of Urban Development has suggested introduction of pre-paid cards for vehicles in the national Capital.
As per the proposed plan, when vehicles pass through congested areas, an antenna on the road will detect the radio frequency identification tags installed on the vehicles and automatically deduct money. The ministry has already requested the Union Transport Ministry to make necessary amendments in the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, for installation of radio frequency identification tags on vehicles.
A senior IAS officer in the ministry said, "The plan is that when a vehicle enters a congested area, it will have to pay congestion tax electronically." He further said the ministry will soon conduct a pilot study for this Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system, with an aim to reduce traffic in highly congested areas in metros, particularly in Delhi. "The data will be sent to a server and toll will automatically be deducted from the vehicle or tag owner's bank account. Electronic Road Pricing is just like congestion tax. The scheme was first adopted by Hong Kong in 1998. The country started the trial in the 1980s and it was very successful," the officer explained.
A similar system has already been installed on the Delhi –Mumbai highway.
It is pertinent to mention that traffic congestion has been growing at a zip, zap, zoom speed as thousands of new vehicles are added to the city's roads every day. From 5.34 lakh in 2014-15, the number of new vehicles registered in Delhi shot up to 8.77 lakh in 2015-16.
Delhi has over eight million vehicles and 1,200 more are added daily. But the road space isn't increasing at the same pace, with Delhi roads fast becoming inadequate to handle the growing traffic volume, according to a report prepared by the Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) in 2010, for traffic forecast in Delhi by 2020. According to the forecast, by 2020, the speed on Delhi roads is expected to dropped to 5 kmph.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Traffic jam")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}