The Delhi government will give “more” advertisements on the odd-even scheme, Transport Minister Gopal Rai said on Monday, noting that all the money required for the scheme will be spent as it is a matter of people’s lives.
Reacting to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s charge that the Aam Aadmi Party government was spending “huge” funds on odd-even advertisements, Mr. Rai said: “We are not doing it for ourselves. We are doing it for the people of Delhi. We will advertise it even more and spend all the money required because it is a matter of people’s lives in Delhi.”
The Minister, who met BJP MP Vijay Goel in the morning to request him not to violate the scheme, alleged that the BJP was trying to “fail” Delhi and its people.
Mr. Goel went on to violate the scheme and paid a fine of Rs.2,000.
“Everyone, including schoolchildren, is working towards the success of the scheme, while Mr. Goel chose to violate it, which is very unfortunate. This thinking of the BJP is not proper… they are trying to fail Delhi and its people,” he added.
Mr. Rai said he urged the BJP MP to desist from violating the odd-even rule as it will send a “wrong message” to others. “I asked him to raise his voice in Parliament or Jantar Mantar, but he violated odd-even scheme. It appears he is also against the rule of carrying a driving licence and insurance papers while driving.”
Mr. Goel, who was fined for driving an odd-numbered car on an even date, was also fined Rs.1,500 for not showing his driving licence and vehicle insurance.
Mr. Rai, who took a bus tour to assess the implementation of the scheme on the first working day of the week since the scheme started on April 15, claimed most parents did not face any problem while ferrying their children to school.
“The reports so far indicate that 90 per cent of parents smoothly ferried their school going-children. Some people may have faced a problem. I urge parents, especially women, to help one another and drop other children to their homes,” the Minister added.
The Minister also said that car-pooling and strengthening the public transport system will help in “smooth” implementation of the scheme and sorting out the problem of ferrying school children. However, he added that it was not possible to cover all people under the programme without strengthening the public transport system.
“Unless we strengthen the public transport system, we cannot cover all the people and vehicles, including two-wheelers, the under odd-even scheme,” he said. — PTI
Rai met BJP MP Vijay Goel in the morning to request him not to violate the scheme. The BJP leader went ahead with his plan
