Transport Minister Gopal Rai on Saturday said the opening of schools, the characteristic Delhi heat and “local” civic issues had emerged as major challenges to odd-even part-II.
Mr. Rai made the statement two days after blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) combine of trying to derail the effective implementation of the scheme by aggravating congestion at some of the most prominent arterial points in the Capital.
Announcing that a six-member panel had been set up to study the impact of the opening of schools and the hot weather on the scheme, the Transport Minister said the government’s move was aimed at ensuring that proper measures were in place “whenever the next edition of the odd-even” would roll out.
The decision was taken at a review meeting on traffic situation chaired by him at his residence on Saturday.
The committee, to be headed by transport special commissioner K K. Dahiya, will have DTC’s deputy CGM Anuj Sinha, DIMTS additional vice-president C. K. Goel, DCP (traffic) A. K. Singh, Executive Director (DMRC) Vikas Kumar and Education additional director Sunita Kaushik as its members.
“Due to closing of schools in January, around 2,500 school buses could come on roads. Besides, as it was winter that time, people used to walk for a small distance, but people are now using bikes, cars and taxis for the same distance, causing congestion,” Mr. Rai said.
“As schools are now open, parents are making more trips in their cars from home to schools, markets and office, which is contributing to the traffic volume... apart from these factors, I would like to reiterate that a challenge is also being posed to its effective implementation by deliberate attempts to derail it,” he added.
In the meeting, the Minister said, complaints of lack of coordination between the Traffic Police, Enforcement Wing and civil defence volunteers were also reviewed. To remedy this, a special monitoring team, to be headed by Special Commissioner Sandeep Goel, was also constituted.
He further said that the decision was taken after the government received several complaints against improper functioning of traffic signals, which were causing traffic snarls. Unlike the first phase, congestion is being reported in various areas including Nehru Palace, ITO, Laxmi Nagar, Bhairav Singh Marg, INA and parts of South Delhi during the second phase of the odd-even scheme.
Mr. Rai said that as per a preliminary report, opening of schools and construction and repair works are causing traffic jams.
In view of this, the government has directed PWD, DMRC and DJB to carry out their construction and repair works at night to avoid traffic jam.
Meanwhile, the Transport Department issued 302 fines to drivers for violating odd-even restrictions on Saturday, while the traffic police challaned 218; as many as 409 auto rickshaw drivers were also issued fines.
