A lot has been said about the rising levels of pollution in the major cities of India. Cars, Industries have been blamed, Car and Machinery maintenance has been termed as an important factor in curbing pollution and the fuel used to run the vehicle has also been said to be important in how much smoke does the vehicle emit. Since I reside in Mumbai, I would like to take this city as a sample to speak on pollution levels. In Mumbai, it is a simple fact that even after the large number cars existing, many and I mean many people travel by an Autorickshaws. This means that surely there has to be large number of Autorickshaws in Mumbai. Now I had an experience a few days back. I was stuck in traffic with my mother while sitting in an Autoricksaw and what I saw and felt was that I was more suffocated and distressed by the small clouds of fumes being created by all these autorickshaws surrounding us, and from that day onwards I really started noticing in a more detailed sense that more than half of the fumes that are present on the roads are because of these autorickshaws, which brings me to some points which require deep consideration and studying by the concerned authorities of the government that don’t wait for a moment to import costly machinery that help to reduce a worrying situation but fail to study and prevent a problem which could actually save a lot of their finances which they inevidently incur in the future.

1) Lets start thinking from ground level. If the traffic and the pollution control departments focus their attention on these autorickshaw drivers and owners and put pressure on them to regularly maintain their autos, then most certainly a change will be seen in the emissions of these autos that we experience everyday.

2) There is still a problem, that when a particular autorickshaw driver is caught for doing something wrong, he cites that the autorickshaw doesn’t belong to him, that he has rented it and then much cant be done to the guilty driver. Why does that happen ? In so many years of autorickshaw’s existence in mumbai, hasn’t the traffic department still reached a solution for such tensions ?

3) A good start for pollution control can be by to eliminate, or at least do some polices or take some actions to reduce the fume emission of Autorickshaws. Now why doesn’t the government see such simple starts and stop with the complicated and costly ideas which only get sanctioned financially but never see the light of day ie. “completion”.

4) There are still many auto drivers who drive ages old models of autorickshaws which are proven to emit more smoke compared to regualar standard rickshaws. Why isn’t something done to penalise such people.

5) People driving one or more than one autos on only one license is a known fact, so more autos polluting the roads, that too “illegally” ! Now such guilty drivers and their accomplices should be taken action against or atleast penalised in a harsh way since these people just ‘don’t’ understand a Rs.1000 fine.

Bottomline : Start with small an simple solutions for a big problem, it is only then that chanes of victory increase.