Delhi has shown the way: AAP govt on odd-even scheme

After seeing the widespread compliance, Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai said: “It is more successful than what we had anticipated”. One of the reasons for this might be the fact that most of the offices were closed on January 1.

As far as the fine related to the odd even formula is concerned, commuters who flout the rule will be issued a fine of 2,000 and will be required to present a copy of the challan every time they are flagged by the cops that day.

With many Delhiites out of the city celebrating the New Year, traffic police officials sharing the same concern said that the real challenge will start from Monday. The growing vehicular population has contributed to making Delhi one of the world’s most polluted cities. Beijing, which receives the bulk of bad-smog headlines, clocked in at 53.

The odd-even scheme that allows odd- and even-numbered private vehicles to ply on the city roads on alternate days aims at reducing air pollution levels.

PM2.5 particles are exceedingly small, but go deep into the lungs and cause chronic health problems.

Volunteers with traffic police explaining the rules to an even number vehicle owner. Bus ridership, meanwhile, is rapidly declining.

PWD minister Satyendar Jain, who is also in charge of the air pollution aspect of the odd-even campiagn, clai med adherence med adherence levels were so high that only 1% of violations were observed on Friday.

He even said people have responded to environment-friendly drive the same way they came out to the streets during the anti-corruption movement three years ago.

According to the transport department, more than 50 lakh of the 92 lakh vehicles registered in Delhi are two-wheelers.

“We thought in the interest of women safety that another exception could be made in favour of women travelling alone with a driver. We ha ve taken steps to do so”, he said, adding that 800km of roads in the city had been upgraded for the odd-even campaign.

Earlier in the day Bassi had once again appealed to people to cooperate with his force throughout the 15 days that the initiative will be in force.

Yet there is some optimism about the experiment.

Still, the 15-day trial represents the most dramatic effort the city has undertaken to combat pollution since a court order in 1998 mandated that all public transport run on compressed natural gas. “That is going to give you the ultimate solution”.