No economy without roads or power.

In October 2011 we wrote about how we are being forced to pay toll on so called highways when they were little more than broken tracks. A drive from New Delhi to Vadodara in Gujarat, a distance of around 1000 kms, which should not take more than 10 hours, took around 23 hours because several stretches of the road were extremely broken, construction of flyovers without providing for traffic flow and absent road signs. Yet we were stopped 18 times and made to pay Rs 751 in toll charges. Despite collecting money from us there were no repairs of the road, no first aid stations and no traffic control. Trucks and tractors were driving the wrong way, bullock carts blocked one lane and villagers took herds of animals along the road. From Delhi to Jaipur, a distance of around 250 km, which should have taken no more than 4 hours took over 6 hours, Now suddenly there is an outcry about the National Highway 8, which is the high sounding name for the road connecting Delhi to Jaipur. TOI, 3 September. People are angry that the company charged with widening the road is way behind schedule while blithely charging tolls from drivers. The National Highway Authority has suddenly woken up to the blatant ripoff and written to the construction company to stop charging toll. The company says that it was not provided with land for widening the road. So why did it not stop work and stop collecting toll? Half the price of any car is made up of taxes, the more expensive the car the higher is the proportion of taxes. A lifetime road tax has to be paid on delivery and taxes constitute half the price of petrol. Yet even after paying such immense taxes we are forced to pay tolls on poor quality roads called highways which are no match for the autobahns of Germany or the Interstate highways of the US. Seems that the Congress ignored warnings from the former Coal Secretary, PC Parekh in July, 2004 that captive coal blocks could provide " windfall profits " for private firms. TOI, 29 August.  Officials warned that the alternate committee route was legally flawed and even counter productive. The government says that allocations were made to cover urgent demands for power and steel. Yet only 2 out of more than 160 blocks are producing coal. No roads and no power. So no rupee as economy tanks.