Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that the AAP government went ahead with the odd-even plan despite apprehensions that the move may have an adverse impact on the party’s vote bank.
He, however, asserted that the people have appreciated the initiative and cooperated with the government in the plan’s implementation as protecting the environment is a major challenge.
“Around one-and-a-half months back when the odd-even plan was being deliberated upon, apprehensions were raised that if the scheme is rolled out, Delhi’s public will be so disappointed with us that we will lose the 2017 MCD election but the scheme was important as there was an urgent need to address the traffic and pollution problems,” Mr. Kejriwal said at a book launch event here.
“We do not view everything as vote bank because with that perspective we will not be able to work for benefit of the public. If we were only bothered about the vote bank and focused only on conventional politics, we would not have been able to implement the odd-even scheme,” he said.
The Chief Minister said, “The plan’s success has strengthened our confidence that if public is taken along even difficult tasks can be handled and public support is bigger than even the Lieutenant Governor and the Centre.”
Mr. Kejriwal said that his government’s plan was to ensure that the odd-even scheme does not get reduced to a mere slogan.
Odd-even scheme: Checking Delhi pollution
What is odd-even scheme - In order to reduce air pollution from teeming vehicles in the National Capital, the Delhi government decided that vehicles with odd and even number plates would be allowed to ply on alternate days only from January 1, 2016. According to the scheme, whose pilot plan started on January 1 till 15th, cars bearing odd-numbered registration plates shall ply in Delhi on the first day and the even numbered ones the next day. - Delhi traffic - Delhi has more than 87 lakh vehicles, half of which hit the roads every day. Nearly 10 lakh private cars will daily stay off the roads in the national capital once the odd- even formula is enforced, with the drastic reduction in traffic flow expected to significantly reduce the high-level of pollution in the city.
- Violations and Repercussions - If on an ‘even-numbered car day’, a Delhiite takes out his odd-numbered vehicle, penalty of Rs. 2,000 under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act will be levied.
- Traffic restrictions in other countries - Cities across the world have experimented with variations of restriction on car usage — there is odd and even day rationing during peak hours in Bogota (Colombia), similar restrictions were implemented in Beijing ahead of 2008 Olympics, though soon after the Olympics policy was dropped. Restrictions on single-occupancy vehicular passage in some North American cities, congestion charges on driving in the city centre in London, and high car taxes in Singapore are among others to implement measures to cut pollution.
- In Delhi after deployment - 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 8 PM on week days.
