Brilliant take-down of Freebie Politics of Kejriwal

Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority told Supreme Court that Delhi facing an acute shortage of public transport as only 5,554 buses against the required number of 11,000 vehicles.

And over the years, despite the promises by Kejriwal’s government, the fleet of DTC buses has dwindled.  And, even though there are private operators who are allowed to run buses for public transport, it should be the job of the local city government to provide for public transport.  Here are a few graphs that show a disturbing trend.

The number of DTC buses should have increased over the years to combat pollution and handle the number of commuters to at least 11,000.  On the contrary, ever since the Kejriwal government came, the numbers have been falling.

Let us look at how many commuters have been using the DTC buses in the last couple of decades.

Now, that again has been falling.

Let us be sure – if the number of people using public transport falls, it just means that they end up buying and using private transport.  Where earlier, roughly 47 lac people were using buses, where at least 50 people may be using during normal times on a bus, now only 27 lac will be using.  That means that as those 20 lac people now not on the DTC buses anymore – will be using additional vehicles on Delhi roads.  That would add to far more pollution and inefficient road and work management across the city.

What is even more disturbing is that now Kejriwal is offering free bus rides to women in Delhi.  That will cost Rs 1200 crore annually.  For that cost, the Delhi government could have bought 1000 new buses every year!  And, perhaps reach the 10,000 figure in 5 years time.

Here is a very good discussion by Shekhar Gupta on the entire DTC management and how Arvind Kejriwal government has screwed up Delhi.  He uses the Broken Window fallacy which was first formulated by French economist Frédéric Bastiat in his 1850 essay “Ce qu’on voit et ce qu’on ne voit pas” (“That Which We See and That Which We Do Not See“).

How the cities and towns are managed by the local governments is something that the citizens of that place need to ascertain.  They need to ensure that things are done as per their interests.

Freebies that destroy the health and future of the city’s citizens is in no one’s interest.  Hope Delhi-ites understand that.