Long before the government raised prices of petrol and diesel and Union Ministers resorted to tokenisms like cutting down on foreign trips, a small village in Maharashtra had begun walking the talk on economising fuel consumption.

As reports of an imminent increase in oil prices began making headlines about two months ago, the gram sabha of Hiwre Bazaar in Ahmednagar district, about 300 km from Mumbai and home to about 1,300 people, passed a resolution urging residents not to use motor vehicles within the village and encouraged pooling automobiles and the use of bicycles.

Although the impact may seem like a drop in the global fuel ocean, it is nevertheless bringing some cheer to the villagers. Hiwre Bazaar is heading towards saving about 100 litres of petrol everyday and many villagers who have aggressively adopted the resolution claim they have cut their fuel expenses by 50 per cent.

“Our village has always been thinking ahead of its time,” says sarpanch Popatrao Pawar, the brain behind an idea economists and finance ministers would heartily endorse. “According our estimates, we plan to save 100 litres of petrol everyday by pooling and switching to bicycles. People here go far for work and most of them have vehicles. So by better co-ordination and pooling, enough fuel can be saved.”

Residents of the village are quick to point out that their economising is not forced by poverty or their inability to afford petrol and diesel. The largely farming village of 236 families has 307 vehicles — 268 motorbikes, 22 four-wheelers and 17 tractors. In fact, 25 per cent of the families are millionaires, they add.

... contd.