Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has repeatedly stressed on the need for the scheme to be successful in view of the capital’s alarming pollution levels, had warned volunteers against “arguing or misbehaving” with people while Delhi police commissioner B.S. Bassi assured full cooperation in implementing the vehicular restrictions.
Advertisement
Initially, the scheme can be on trial foundation for 15 days.
Kejriwal said that his government’s plan was to ensure that the odd-even scheme does not get reduced to a mere slogan.
Even-numbered vehicles virtually went off the roads in the Indian capital on Friday as Delhi kickstarted a path-breaking odd-even vehicle restriction policy to battle rising pollution.
They said the restrictions do not go far enough, and provide far too many exemptions, including motorcyclists – who contribute 31 per cent to pollution levels – and women drivers. “Civil defence volunteers found it hard to practice gandhigiri, couldn’t find people to give roses to”.
On one of the city’s main arterial roads, most cars trickling in bore odd-numbered license plates while scores of cyclists wore fluorescent gear, their faces covered.
“I am truly overwhelmed by the response”.
Along with two wheelers, cars operating on natural gas have been exempted.
The first offender, who was slapped with the stipulated Rs 2,000 fine, told police that he was heading towards his office and there was no convenient transportation facility from his residence near Pari Chowk, the intersection between NOIDA and Greater NOIDA, said a senior traffic official.
Gyanendra, a dentist at Maulana Azad Institute of Medical Sciences, said: “I think it is a good step to check pollution in Delhi”.
Kejriwal will share his vehicle with Gopal Rai and PWD minister Satyendar Jain while Environment Minister Imran Hussain and Social Welfare Minister Sandeep Kumar will take an auto and a bus, respectively, to Delhi secretariat. The pollution is fed by construction dust, ash from crop waste burned in nearby farming areas and sand from the Thar desert. That is a relatively low number for New Delhi in winter, but is still about 15 times higher than the World Health Organization standard of 20. Going by mainly vote bank politics, the government can not take measures for the long-term benefit of the people, and in that case it would have been very hard to implement the odd-even formula. “I spoke with my officers and they told me that people are appreciating the scheme and cooperating with them”.
Advertisement
Still, others wonder if Delhi would be able to pull it off for the whole two-week period. “I will come to Secretariat by it for the remaining days”, he said. “I am thinking of buying a motorcycle”, said Mr Dawra, a marketing executive with an odd-numbered plate vehicle.
