Delhi ministers to carpool with colleagues from Jan 1

“During 15 days of the odd-even scheme, I will carpool with my Cabinet colleagues to reach Delhi Secretariat,” said Gopal Rai. The government has also directed officers in Delhi government to follow the same and use public transport to reach their offices to make the drive a success.

Nearly 10 lakh private cars are expected to daily stay off Delhi roads from January one that may result in significant reduction in pollution levels in the city. In extending exemption to 15 category of VVIPs and 10 other categories of vehicles, the Delhi Chief Minister has excluded himself and his Cabinet from the list.

“If you see an odd number car plying on even date, please bring down you screen and request the driver to go back. If many people do this to the violators, he will feel some shyness,” said Kejriwal with a view to attract vigilant citizens in the scheme. “It’s a movement for cultural change, it will take time to instil the value among citizens,” he added. The Chief Minister also requested the traffic policemen to be careful and avoid traffic jam like situations. “Traffic police should not block entire stretch to challan the violators of odd-even scheme. There should not be traffic jam on carriageways,” he added. He also announced deployment of 10,000 volunteers to cooperate traffic police besides teams of transport department and district administration.

“We have also requested the parking operators in the city not to provide parking to odd number cars on even days,” informed Kejriwal. All the roads above 100 feet width in the city will be marked bus lanes and the buses which violate the lanes would be fined. 

“We have marked bus lanes on 400 out of 1,200 roads. Cars can ply in bus lane but can’t be parked there,” added Kejriwal. The government has and will also ensure proper operation of carpool app, PoochhO App for auto and taxis, and include 6,000 additional buses to strenghten public transport besides 10,000 new auto for last mile connectivity. Cases of medical emergencies would be treated on “basis of trust” for the first two weeks of January 2016, the CM said. While Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal candidly said that if the number of violators is huge, it will mean that the public at large in the national Capital are not in favour of the scheme and it will be discontinued. Senior citizens, physically challenged, doctors, lawyers, who had petitioned the government seeking exemption, will have to abide by the regulations.