“When the first phase of the odd-even scheme was introduced from January 1 to 15, all the city’s schools were closed”.
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Arguing that questions related to the exemption mostly pertained to anxiety over possible prosecution of male drivers en route schools during the later part of the day, the government said the existing list of exempted categories was “sufficient to seek workable alternatives”.
The incident happened during a press conference at Delhi Secretariat addressed on roll out of the second phase of the Odd-Even scheme from 15th of this month.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has called a Cabinet meeting with coordination committee constituted today and a final decision is likely to be taken, a report said.
Kejriwal admitted that implementing the exemption to cars carrying children in school uniform would be tricky as not all such vehicles stay behind to bring students back from school.
Rai said the Delhi government does not want any “unnecessary controversy” by bringing Union ministers under the scheme’s ambit.
Chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Swati Maliwal had also urged Gopal Rai to exempt women from the road-rationing scheme as the city’s public transport is not in a good shape and safety for working women is an issue of concern. “In the second phase, schools will be open, that is the biggest challenge for us”, Mr Rai said. As per the scheme, when vehicles having registration numbers as odd numbers ply on a given days, vehicles with even numbered registration will stay off roads that day.
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Earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced guidelines for the second leg of the “odd-even” traffic scheme in Delhi, saying women drivers and vehicles carrying students in uniform will be exempted from the restrictions.
