Delhi government reveals details of odd-even vehicle plan

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced in a private meeting yesterday that women travelling alone or with young children, VIPs and two-wheelers are among 25 kinds of motorists excluded from Delhi’s ‘odd and even’ vehicle regulation experiment.

The plan will run from January 1st to 15th initially and will keep a tab to fight the alarmingly high air pollution levels in Delhi. He added that all the permissions needed for his scheme have been approved. “Pollution is becoming a very serious problem. One for which we will together have to find a solution. The government can take initiatives, but they will need everyone’s participation to succeed,” he said. 

“I understand you will be inconvenienced. But this is for all of us, not the government. For our health and environment,” the Chief Minister said. He admitted that the public transportation system did not have the capacity to satisfy the needs of all car passengers and asked citizens to use the benefits of car pooling after taking precautionary measures. A mobile application for car pooling will also be launched in the next few days, he added. 

While all VIPs from central and state governments, judiciary and embassies are exempted, Kejriwal confirmed that he and the Aam Aadmi party ministers will also car pool to abide by the regulation. The Chief Minister cautioned that there will be a hefty penalty, “The fine for violating the odd and even vehicle regulation will be Rs 2,000, “ he said. 

However, if Delhi citizens oppose the penalty proposition then the scheme may have to be shut after a few days. Kejriwal said that this is not a continuous exercise and a reassessment will be conducted after a couple of months so that the idea can be implemented in stages.