Delhi High Court's concern for the city's worsening traffic congestion is welcome. Its suggestion to impose a congestion fee on private cars, however, appears to be yet another case of striking at the symptoms without dealing with the disease. If 39 lakh of the 60 lakh vehicles in the city are indeed private vehicles, as the court reportedly noted with alarm, it is surely a reflection on the government's gross neglect of public transport. Given the disproportionate expenditure on private cars, to say little of the state of our roads, very few people would drive to work out of choice. The court's suggestion to levy a congestion fee, therefore, only amounts to a further penalty on the hapless commuters.

In case the court failed to notice while turning to Britain's capital for inspiration, Delhi is not quite London. In London, which has among the more derided public transport systems in the developed world, you could use the tube to reach most parts of the city even decades ago. Plus, of course, there are ample buses on duty as well. In Delhi, on the other hand, travelling by even the state-of-the-art metro is a physical challenge during rush hours.

Is the proposed congestion fee for private cars, then, justified in Delhi?