The report in today’s The Hindu about some petrol pumps going dry, following the pattern in some cities is neither surprising nor unexpected. Clearly, the oil companies with the tacit blessing of the Manmohan Singh Government are reducing their supplies, in order to restrict oil imports.

Where are the 1,000 MTC buses that the DMK Government promised us?
Badly maintained, ageing double deckers are used by MTC in Chennai

This stands in contrast to the policy of pumping up demand through brisk sales of automobiles, rather than tax petrol heavily and deploy the additional funds available to augment bus and train services, improve walking and cycling paths.

Not much imagination is required to see that the myopic policy on transport of both the UPA government and the state governments including the DMK in Tamil Nadu is hurting prospects of continued high growth and reduced inflation.