E-Paper
Odd-even wont be extended as Delhi air better: Kejriwal
New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that the odd-even road space rationing drive will not be extended as of now as Delhi’s air quality
New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that the odd-even road space rationing drive will not be extended as of now as Delhi’s air quality saw an improvement this week, after reeling under emergency levels till November 15 last week.
“The sky is clear now, there is no need of it (the odd-even drive)”, Kejriwal said in a press conference.
The odd-even drive was rolled out by the Delhi government from November 4 as the city’s air quality plunged into the ‘severe’ category. The scheme concluded on November 15, with Kejriwal saying it could be extended if required. He had said earlier that a final decision on extension of the scheme will be taken on Monday.
During the scheme, around 5,000 violators of the rule were fined with ₹4,000 each , which was ₹2,000 more than the last two editions of the scheme in past years.
The third edition of the road rationing scheme witnessed at least 4,885 prosecutions, as compared to 10,058 and 9,576 violations in the first two editions enforced in January and April 2016, respectively, according to government records. This despite the government enlarging the ambit of the road space rationing scheme this time by removing private CNG cars from the exemption list.
Delhi’s transport minister Kailash Gahlot had claimed that the reduced prosecution numbers this time indicate better compliance of the rules among motorists in the national capital.
Under the odd-even scheme, vehicles with registration plates ending in even numbers are allowed to ply on dates with an even number while those with registration plates ending in an odd number are allowed to ply on dates with an odd number. This was implemented between 8am and 8pm.
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