fter much brainstorming over the latest category of vehicles to be added to its list of exemptions, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced the government was of the view that parents across the Capital would need to work out viable solutions in relation to dropping and picking children up from city schools during the second phase of odd-even on their own.
Even as Mr. Kejriwal declared that his government was “seriously mulling” making the policy a permanent fixture for 15 days every month, he contended just nine working days between April 15 and April 30 would translate into minimal hassle for them during the duration.
“We thought about it. But then it is mainly women who pick up children after school hours and they are exempted in any case. An individual won’t face trouble for more than four to five days,” he said.
As The Hindu has been consistently reporting in the run-up to the second phase of the implementation of the scheme, the government has been of the view that the majority of parents picking up their children from city schools at the end of the day “happened to be mothers”.
Arguing that questions related to the newly-added exemption – to vehicles carrying children in school uniform — mostly pertained to anxiety over possible prosecution of male drivers en route schools during the later part of the day, the government has been maintaining that the existing list of exempted categories was “sufficient to seek workable alternatives”.
Admitting that implementing the exemption would be “tricky” due to the fact that it needed to simultaneously cater to two categories of vehicles, the Chief Minister said, “There are two types in this case. In one case, a vehicle drops a child to school, stays put, and brings him back. But there are cases where a child may not be in the car on one side of the journey. It will cause a little trouble.”
It was due to this, he added, that parents were advised to explore the car-pooling option or “adjust” their children with neighbours. Meanwhile, Mr. Kejriwal, urged Union Ministers, who figure prominently on the same list of exemptions, which ironically excludes the official vehicle allotted to the Delhi Chief Minister, to voluntarily follow the provisions of the car rationing scheme.
“Although union ministers have been exempted from the ambit of odd-even scheme, I urge them with folded hands to follow the scheme voluntarily as several judges, who had been given exemptions from the first round of odd-even scheme, had done,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
