Gurgaon Police Commissioner Navdeep Virk on Tuesday said that the odd-even car formula to come into force in Delhi from January 1 next year, if successful, would be replicated in Gurgaon as well.
He was speaking at a function to launch a unique road safety initiative for Gurgaon -- Sabhya Roads, Bhavya Gurgaon -- alongwith the Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL). In the first phase, the company has identified 13-km long, high traffic density stretches in Gurgaon where it will work with the Gurgaon Police to improve the traffic conditions. Mr. Virk, R S Kalsi, Executive Director (Marketing and Sales), MSIL, also signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard.Addressing the gathering Mr. Virk said that the several initiatives had been taken by the Gurgaon Police to smoothen the traffic on Gurgaon roads and one of them, the Car-Free Day, had caught the national fancy and was being replicated in different parts. “Delhi has now they have come up with this idea of odd-even car formula. It is a wonderful idea and would be replicated in Gurgaon if it is successful in Delhi.”
“Though it may take a lot of efforts and resources to make this plan work, but it could substantially bring down the pollution levels if successful. We are serious about replicating it in Gurgaon if it works in Delhi,” he said.
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Welcoming the statement of Mr. Virk, Sarika Panda Bhatt, manager (city and transport) with Embarq (India), said: “It is a very good decision. But we need to work with private bus and carpooling companies to put this formula in place. In Gurgaon, it is difficult to enforce anything as our public transport is very poor.”“The cities of South America like Bagota, Sao Paolo and Mexico implemented restriction in various degrees and received success when those measures were coupled with other measures like construction of cycle tracks, introduction of Bus Rapid System, ban on old and polluting vehicles. It should be noted that car restrictions along with incentives like better public transport, facilities for pedestrian and Non-Motorised Transport, ban of polluting vehicles, rebates on sale of old vehicles, tax exemptions for non-polluting vehicles and disincentives like ban on polluting vehicles, congestion pricing in core areas need to be combined to get the requisite results,” she added.
Amit Bhatt, Head of Transport, EMBARQ – WRI India, said: “The biggest challenge to the move will be the enforcement of the policy by the Police and to bring about a change in mindset of the citizens towards using private cars. Cars have become a status symbol which needs to be used at all cost to health and environment. Likewise, our police staff is best understaffed and with the burden of multiple duties to perform. Proper training as to the right approach in dealing with offenders must be made top of the agenda before implementing vehicle restrictions. Along with education, we will slowly, but surely witness a change in the mindset towards Sustainable Transport.”