Will stop odd-even scheme if people face difficulty: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been facing criticism from all the opposition parties, thanked Justice Thakur for his support and said that this would provide inspiration to millions of others.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday alleged that Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) did not consult the people of Delhi before coming up with the formula of running odd and even numbered vehicles on alternate days to curb pollution and said it seems that the decision was taken under some pressure.

Seeking to assuage concerns, he said it was an in-principle decision and will be “thought through” for at least 20 days and that a committee of top officials has been appointed to work out details like exemptions in case of medical emergencies. He said before taking the drastic step the city government wanted to strengthen public transport, but had to resort to it following the panic triggered by increasing pollution in the capital. “We thought when we will be prepared at that level (elevated bus corridor), we will start imposing some kind of restrictions on private vehicles like cars”. Let’s try for few days, a week to 10 days. May be for 15 days. “If there are too many problems, it will be stopped”, he said.

Environmental groups on Saturday lauded the Delhi government’s move to drastically reduce the number of private vehicles on the capital’s roads in a bid to clean up the city’s notoriously toxic air, as a political row erupted over the controversial decision. After such a move, the AAP and Kejriwal will definitely lose the support of the common man and the middle class people. “I advocate that our prime minister’s salary should also increase if it is less than Rs. 1 lakh”.

“We need public participation for this initiative to succeed”, he said. The government will implement Euro 6 standards – for vehicular emission in Delhi by Jan 1, 2017, he said.

“All I want is freedom to take my decisions”.

“Does the Kejriwal government have solution for them”, he asked. “The day-to-day interference has sapped us badly”. “We can walk down or even take a bus”.

He also spoke about the use of the recently launched Swachh Delhi mobile application to curb activities that cause pollution.

On bureaucracy, he said they used to face lot of difficulties earlier but are happy now.