‘One per cent violations’ on first odd-even day

“So far, we have persuaded around a dozen people to turn back”, he said. “We thank all individuals for selecting their youngsters’s well being”, Delhi’s transport minister Gopal Rai stated.

“Curbing pollution in Delhi is the need of the hour”. Then we will stop it and reassess.

Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra, who came to the Secretariat from his home in East Delhi, tweeted: “Wow Delhi Thank you for making #OddEvenFormula a success… just reached office on bike.no traffic”.

Commenting on the success of the initiative, he observed: “I repeatedly said that the scheme will meet with success only when people embrace it and not though force”.

Gyanendra, a dentist at Maulana Azad Institute of Medical Sciences, said: “I think it is a good step to check pollution in Delhi”.

As the much-debated odd-even scheme restricting movement of private cars in the national capital between 8 AM and 8 PM for a fortnight was rolled out on Friday.

“Most cars I have spotted were odd-numbered”.

A BJP MP was also stopped after he was caught travelling in an even numbered auto near India Gate.

Mishra plans to stick to his motorbike-as two-wheelers are exempted from restrictions-to travel between his Yamuna Vihar residence and secretariat. “I spoke with my officers and they told me that people are appreciating the scheme and cooperating with them”. At 4 pm, the Rajpur Road in Civil Lines had a pollution level of PM2.5:307 µg/m³PM10: 506 µg/m³.

Under the regulations, cars bearing odd-numbered registration plates shall ply on city roads today while those with even number plates, if taken out, will attract a penalty of Rs 2,000 under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act.

Jain, the nodal minister to cope with points referring to surroundings, stated a political party which dominated Delhi in the previous exclusively talked about the odd-even scheme however didn’t have the guts to implement it. “The offender claimed that he knew about the restrictions but had no other option”, said the official.

“More than 3,000 traffic police officials were deployed across the city following a well-drafted strategy and they have been specially briefed about the scheme”, said a senior traffic police official. As Delhi takes to the formula, government said violators of the rule will not be allowed access to authorised parking spaces in the city.

The AAP on Friday said it had expected “teething problems” during the implementation of odd-even plan, but response from the people was “overwhelming and beyond expectations”.

Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken chose not to comment on the issue saying that it is “too early” to speak about the scheme as it is only the first day of the 15-day implementation, which also includes an extended weekend, in the national capital.