-Complete State Ownership
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D OAD transport in India will be corn
pletely nationalized within the next five or six years, the Indian Minister for Communications, Mr. Jagjivan Ram, has stated.
" His pronouncement has attracted criticism from supporters of private enterprise, who have pointed out that the Planning Commission have recorrimended the review of licensing policies with the intention of developing road transport largely by free operators. . The Commission envisage a 24,600 increase in the number of commercial • vehicles in India, an advance that is not considered too ambitious, as the present
• strength is only some 67,000. It is thought that private investment can hardly be stimulated if State Governments grant licences. to operators for periods of only three-six months. Many State Governments, whose desire to nationalize is not matched by abundance of resources, follow a policy of short-term licensing.
Prohibitive taxation, as in Madras, also deters private investors. In that State,. the number of buses and lorries has steadily fallen during the past few years.. The Commission are likely to draw the attention of the State Governments to these matters.