New Delhi: The ambitious car-rationing scheme of the Delhi government could make a comeback for the second phase. The move was discussed in a review meeting held by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday.
According to sources, all government departments Traffic and Delhi Metro including gave a positive feedback about the policy. Metro ridership during the 15-day trial period saw an increase in the ridership by 41 per cent.
Kejriwal, however, pointed out certain gaps in the long run implementation of the scheme. He pointed out prominent concerns regarding the second phase, whether it will disrupt the Board exams in March and will it drive people towards driving more cars.
Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN, Transport Minister Gopal Rai said the odd-even will be re-implemented once the issues are sorted.`
Monday was the first working day post the 15-day odd-even policy and as expected massive traffic snarls returned to the capital.
Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai said concerned departments have to submit their report before the next meeting, for which the date is yet to be decided.
Elaborating on the 15-day trial phase, Rai said that during the implementation of the car-rationing scheme, the average pollution level had come down significantly and it also decongested the city's roads.
"In Monday's review meeting, all the departments including PWD, transport, environment as well as independent experts have expressed their views that the scheme should continue further to bring down pollution level and de-congest the capital's roads.
"During the meeting, the two major concerns came up for discussion. These two concerns are about picking of school children by their parents and the second that people will move to buy alternate car to evade the scheme," the minister said.
When asked about inclusion of bikes and scooters under the next phase of scheme, Rai said that no decision has been taken in this regard and it will be only possible when the city government strengthens the public transport system including increasing of fleet of DTC and cluster buses.
He said that in the review meeting held on Monday, it was also mentioned that due to odd-even scheme, pollution level has come down significantly on an average and CSE, EPCA and TERI also found the reduction in pollution level.
On the role of public transport, the minister also said that the frequency of DTC and cluster buses has increased significantly due to this scheme as there was no much traffic-congestion on the roads during the last 15 days.
"64 lakh people used to travel in DTC and cluster buses every day during this scheme. Government is moving towards augmenting public transport by introducing new buses," he said.
With PTI inputs.
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