Sunday 22 / December / 2024
New Delhi: The ambitious odd-even scheme of Delhi government, a first such intervention in the country to combat spiralling air pollution, got off to a decent start on new year with volume of cars on the city roads coming down significantly amid deployment of thousands of policemen and and moderately augmented public transport.
As the clock struck eight this morning, the vehicular restriction policy came into effect with thousands of volunteers carrying roses also taking to the streets to assist traffic police in enforcing the pilot plan that will stay in force till January 15.
"Overwhelmed" by the response of the people to the car rationing experiment, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the pilot initiative of the AAP government has turned "into a movement". Cars bearing odd-numbered registration plates shall ply on city roads today (Friday) while those with even number plates, if taken out, will attract a penalty of Rs2,000 under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act.
It will be vice-versa in tomorrow (Saturday).
Two hundred teams of Traffic Police, 66 enforcement teams of transport department and 40 teams of sub-divisional magistrates were deployed across the city to ensure strict implementation of the scheme which is stipulated till 8pm on week days.
Even as the scheme was unveiled, the air quality continued to remain very poor with areas of the city including the Delhi Secretariat complex recording severe level of pollutants in real time.
An additional 3,000 buses have been deployed in the city as part of efforts to augment public transport.
The metro has also decided to run 70 extra trips.
The chief minister said that as per initial reports, the plan has been "quite successful" and people in the national capital have largely accepted the restrictions with an "open mind".
"I repeatedly said that the scheme will meet with success only when people embrace it and not though force. It has become a movement and we are truly overwhelmed by the response we have received so far.
"Delhi will show the way to the rest of the country," Kejriwal told reporters outside his residence.
However, the real test of the scheme's effectiveness will be on Moday as a number of private offices are closed today.
Also the schools are having winter vacation, which would have taken off some load from the traffic.
Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra reached the Secretariat riding his two-wheeler at around 9am and tweeted,
"Wow Delhi Thank you for making #OddEvenFormula a success... just reached office on bike..
no traffic.. Delhi is following it voluntarily."
Two-wheelers are included in the list of 25 categories that have been kept out of the ambit of the scheme.
The rest of the Cabinet, including Kejriwal, will carpool to work and use public transport.
Environment Minister Imran Hussain and Social Welfare Minister Sandeep Kumar will take an auto and a bus, respectively, to reach Delhi Secretariat.
The first prosecution for violating the restrictions odd-even scheme took place at ITO junction around 33 minutes after the restrictions were implemented this morning.
While being imposed with the Rs2,000 penalty, the offender told the police that he was heading towards his office and there was no convenient transport facility from Pari Chowk, the intersection between NOIDA and Greater NOIDA, which is close to his residence, said a senior traffic official.
Microblogging site Twitter is helping commuters find information about bus routes, Metro, autorickshaws during the road-rationing experiment.
Twitter users can get details of public transport available in particular areas by tweeting #pollutionfreeDelhi followed by the departure and destination point.
Twitter will instantly send users real-time public transport updates pertaining to the area.
Apart from that, users, who do not wish to make their location public, can send a message to @transportdelhi and thereafter, he or she will get destination details to be sent by @transportdelhi.
Under the scheme, 25 categories of people are being given exemptions including the VIPs. In certain areas, vehicles having even registration numbers were seen plying.
