Women exempted from odd-even: Kejri
Women will be exempted from the odd-even road rationing scheme, which is set to return in the national capital for the third time from November 4 to 15, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Saturday.
Unlike on previous occasions, privately owned CNG vehicles will not be exempted this time, he said. “Women driving alone, cars having all women occupants, and women accompanied by children aged less than 12 years will be exempted,” Mr Kejriwal said, adding that the decision has been taken keeping in mind their safety.
Talking on the change in the policy for CNG vehicles, the chief minister said: “In the previous editions of the odd-even scheme, CNG vehicles were exempted. But we observed that the CNG stickers used to denote vehicles were sold in the black market and misused by some people to bypass the scheme. This defeats the purpose of odd-even.”
“A decision on whether two-wheelers should be exempted from the scheme or not is yet to be taken and we are consulting experts,” he added.
“Two-wheelers do pollute the air and we believe they should not be exempted under the odd-even scheme. But at the same time, given the number of two-wheelers in Delhi, it is impractical to take half of them off the roads. Delhi doesn’t have such a large
vacant capacity in our public transport to be able to do that,” he said.
The government is trying to resolve the contradiction on this issue, he said, adding that they are also trying to finalise the decision on having staggered office timings and consultation with experts on this is underway.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo also encouraged people to opt for carpooling during the odd-even scheme and said that even on the last two occasions, people had opted for it. He said they are looking at what the quantum of fine shall be under the new Motor Vehicles Act.
“Our aim will not be to heavily fine violators, but to request them to follow the rule. However, violators will be liable to pay fines as per the new Motor Vehicles Act. We are looking into what the quantum of the fine shall be,” the chief minister said.
Transport minister Kailash Gahlot said the government will engage 2,000 private buses during the odd-even period for the additional load at `50 per kilometre.