Delhi CM Kejriwal overwhelmed by response to the odd-even scheme

Cars carrying disabled people will also be allowed on all days.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee said the Particulate Matter 2.5 reading at Delhi Secretariat decreased in the evening. Rai, who accepted that some of the traffic was off the roads due to offices being closed on the first day of the year, added that DTC buses along with the 3,000 extra buses put into the fleet didn’t run to capacity on Friday.

Senior politicians, judges, police and prison officials are also exempt and a thriving underground industry making fake licence plates had emerged in Delhi.

As of January 1, only men with odd numbered plates will be allowed to drive private cars in New Delhi, while those with even numbers will have to wait till Saturday.

Cars, mainly with the odd licence plate numbers, are seen during the first day of the implementation of the odd-even scheme for vehicles in New Delhi, India, 01 January 2016. The private vehicles are free to play on roads before 8am or after 8pm.

Delhi CM Kejriwal on twitter says the odd-even scheme begins successfully, Delhi has done it!

Those discovered violating the rule shall be fined Rs. 2,000.

Sisodia hoped that with the 15 days trail people will get used to odd-even formula which will help in lowering high pollution level in the city.

But observers warned the real test would come on Monday, when offices reopen after New Year’s Day, a partial holiday in Delhi.

“It is a bit exhausting, but I think we can manage to comply by the rules for two weeks”, the official said.

Early Friday as Delhi residents took the roads, volunteers and traffic police were seen fanning out across the central part of the city.

“More civil defence volunteers were deployed than yesterday to educate to make the motorists aware of the road-rationing plan and its modalities”, a government official said. Delhi Culture Minister Kapil Mishra drove a bike to the Secretariat from his Yamuna Vihar residence.

Critics have argued that the plan is impractical, saying that Delhi has a woefully inadequate public transportation system and too few traffic policemen to enforce the new rules. Doctors often have to attend to emergencies and can not wait for odd and even numbered cars to take them.

A study by the University of California, according to a press release from the Centre for Science and Environment, said people’s exposure to vehicle exhaust fumes in the capital city is three to four times greater than the world average.

Delhi’s air routinely worsens in the winter months, as millions of poor people light fires for warmth and the cold air and cloud cover traps pollutants.