NEW DELHI: Ahead of the third edition of the Odd-Even vehicle scheme in the national capital, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday sought the transport department’s views on exemption to women, CNG-run vehicles and two-wheelers in the vehicle-rationing exercise that will begin on November 4.
“As the Delhi government gears up to implement the Parali Pradushan Action Plan...Chief Minister Kejriwal has asked the department to submit its views to him within the next three days,” a government statement read.
During the 12-day scheme, vehicles will ply alternately on odd and even dates as per their registration numbers. From the point of view of women’s safety, when the government had implemented the scheme in 2016, all women drivers were exempt from the rule.
“The rationale was that women in Delhi feel a sense of security in their own vehicles for travelling and should be permitted to take the safest mode of transport. The chief minister has directed the Transport department to consider the implementation of this exemption,” the statement added.
In the previous edition of the scheme, all two-wheelers had been exempt from the alternate day bar on plying on the roads.
“The latest estimate for the number of two-wheelers that ply in Delhi is over 70 lakh. If two-wheelers are not exempt, it will lead to over 35 lakh persons, other than lakhs of pillion riders, to switch to public transport every day. The chief minister has asked the department to review the current capacity of the public transport network and state its views on two-wheelers exemption.”
On exemption to CNG-run vehicles, Kejriwal said that the scheme may fail to achieve its purpose if people bypass the restrictions by using wrongfully procured CNG stickers.
CNG vehicle exclusion
Kejriwal has asked transport department to consider views of Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) and officials involved in the distribution of CNG stickers