Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Urgent need to conserve fuel' that was published in Newsband

Urgent need to conserve fuel

India needs to manufacture vehicles with higher fuel efficiency. The sharp growth in demand for petrol and diesel, and the rising burden of oil imports make that a priority. There is need to conserve fuel and reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. The vehicle manufacturers should welcome the Power Ministry’s notification on fuel efficiency norms and its 2017 deadline.

China moved to implement new vehicle efficiency standards from 2005 to conserve oil and, in parallel, to encourage the industry to bring in better technologies. Why can’t India do the same? In fact, India should actually look for a leapfrog effect to ensure that only the most efficient vehicles are produced and sold.

To save fuel, car owners should resort to alternative modes such as inter-city rail services and urban public transport from time to time. India’s nascent efforts at introducing fuel efficiency standards need to be hastened.

The biggest setback to achieving the above mentioned fuel efficiency mechanisms and strategies are nothing but population expansion in India. If somehow it is controlled then most of the things will fall in place by themselves. Moreover, in this era of globalization, technology seems not too far away. Proper technological advances has to be incorporated by the automobile sector not only to reduce fuel consumption but also to devise eco-friendly alternatives to conventional

fuels.

There should be a proper development and implementation of public transport standards in the country. If there are good standards of public transport, public would get interested in using them rather than go for their personal vehicles. That would also help us to fight against the growing traffic congestions. This would also help in controlling the pollution which is also a major factor of concern.

There is no doubt that fuel efficient automobiles with green house norm compliance are always the need of the hour in a highly populous and disorderly country like India. But we should not forget other priorities too. We should also pay attention to garbage clearance and trash-free environment followed by better roads. We do not know how to fix a manhole cover in alignment with road surface. Road quality and pollution are inter-connected.

Thus there is no doubt about the fact that fuel efficiency of vehicles is a very crucial issue for survival of our indigenous automobile industry. This is an important issue which needs special attention.