Delhi Government has announced that cars will be permitted to ply only on alternate days from the 1st of January 2016. Cars with registered license plate number ending in even number will be allowed to ply on even dates, while those ending in odd will be allowed to ply on odd dates. This is being undertaken in a bid to reduce the high level of air pollution which the Capital has had to contend with over the past few weeks.
Set to commence from the 1st of January 2016, Delhi’s Odd-Even rule for plying of private cars has been given the nod by Centre Government as well as Delhi Police. Delhi CM, Kejriwal has told reporters that vehicles carrying patients or being driven by women will be exempted. This rule does not apply to two wheelers and will be applicable from 8 AM to 8 PM.
Besides seeking police assistance to ensure that these regulations are carried out, Kejriwal also pushed for installation of more CCTV cameras across Delhi.
Various suggestions were put forth prior to this implementation. One was that odd numbered vehicles would ply on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while even numbered vehicles would ply in Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. All vehicles would be permitted to ply on Sunday. The other suggestion was that odd numbered vehicles could ply on odd dates while even numbered vehicles could ply on even dates but census sought at least one day on which all vehicles could ply.
Delhi’s Odd-Even rule will encourage car pooling while DTC buses and the Delhi Metro will have to scale up operations so as to cater to this increased demand. This should see an increase of 20% operations in the number of trips made by buses while more drivers and increase in working hours of the Metro would be necessary.
On the other hand, car manufacturers are not happy with the rule. They are of the opinion that cars produce about 10% of the vehicular pollution in Delhi while 40% is by two wheelers and rest by trucks and buses. Singling out cars is not only illogical, but also unfair.
via PTI
