Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced that women will be exempted from the odd-even scheme that will be enforced in Delhi from November 4 to 15. However, there will be no relief for private vehicles running on CNG unlike the previous two occasions. The Delhi government was still mulling over exemption for two-wheelers from the road rationing scheme, he said.
This will be the third time that the scheme will be enforced in Delhi after two 15-day periods in January and April, 2016.
“Keeping the security of women in mind, we have decided to exempt women from the odd-even scheme. All vehicles being driven by a lone woman driver, a woman driver ferrying female passengers or those with women drivers and children below the age of 12 will be exempt,” Mr. Kejriwal said at a press conference here.
Explaining the non-exemption for CNG vehicles this time, the Chief Minister said it was due to complaints the government received about black marketing and misuse of CNG stickers when the scheme was enforced earlier. “We observed that the stickers used to denote CNG vehicles were sold in the black market and misused by some people to bypass the scheme. This defeats the purpose of odd-even,” he said.
Undecided on two-wheelers
On two-wheelers, Mr. Kejriwal said the government was trying to “resolve the contradiction” on this issue in addition to figuring out the fines to be levied on drivers violating the provisions of the scheme.
“Two-wheelers do pollute the air and we believe they should not be exempt under odd-even. But given the number of two-wheelers in Delhi, it is impractical to take half of them off the roads. Delhi doesn't have public transport of the scale needed to do that,” he said.
The Chief Minister said an in-principle decision has been taken to stagger office timings and that experts are being consulted on it. “We will share more information when a decision is taken. Our aim is not to fine violators heavily. We request them to follow the rule... but violators will be liable to pay fines are per the amended Motor Vehicles Act. We are looking into what the quantum of fine shall be,” he said.
