Other cities can learn a lesson or two from the transporters' strike now in progress in Mumbai. An important one is that the campaign against air pollution is gaining momentum and support across a wide spectrum of people and institutions. For commercial vehicle operators, the writing is on the wall. Sooner or later they are all going to have to meet anti-pollution standards or lose business. In Mumbai, there is greater public awareness of the causes and hazards of air pollution and there is greater public determination to do something about it.This, in turn, is reflected in the tougher measures government departments have been prepared to consider if not always carry out. It is also reflected in the kind of judgments courts have been handing down. Unfortunately, Mumbai's taxi, autorickshaw and truck operators do not recognise how much things have changed. Their union leaders, bereft of ideas, still seem to think all they need to get their way is to exert pressure on the government of Maharashtra.Truethe government did buckle the last time and did put off implementing anti-pollution measures. This time the Vilasrao Deshmukh government cannot take the soft option because its hands are tied by directives from the Bombay High Court. But Mumbai's transporters and their leaders have their heads in the sand. They know one thing and one thing only. In the past transport strikes have worked so all they can only think of is collective action again. No union leader has stopped to ask what they can do to reduce air pollution which affects transporters and the public alike. By failing to produce an effective response to the issue agitating the public - intolerably high levels of pollutants the unions are weakening themselves in each confrontation. Take public opinion. Certainly there is great inconvenience and perhaps some sympathy for the hapless employees of trucking companies and taxi operators. But the public also knows that taxis, autorickshaws and trucks are major polluters. The evidence is available duringevery strike.When 100,000 commercial vehicles are off Mumbai's roads air pollution levels fall dramatically. Government departments are learning to coordinate better during strikes and make life a bit easier for the public. Relaxing zoning rules brings non-striking vehicles to the aid of the city; railway and bus services have made useful adjustments in their timetables; and various kinds of entrepreneurs in this city of the fast buck are offering options to stranded travellers and those with goods to move.Nothing can make up for the absence of 100,000 commercial vehicles, of course, but the strike hurts no one so much as the transporters themselves. It is an increasingly ineffective instrument in circumstances in which neither the government or the courts or the public are on their side. Had the leadership been far-seeing, it could have bargained for a phased introduction of anti-pollution measures and more appropriately for financial packages to enable members to bring their vehicles up to scratch. Apragmatic approach makes more sense than pressure tactics.
