Manish Sisodia evens the odds by riding a bicycle to office

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia rode around on a bicycle as the capital continued trying out its traffic rationing measures on Saturday, allowing only even-numbered cars on the streets.

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia rode around on a bicycle as the capital continued trying out its traffic rationing measures on Saturday, allowing only even-numbered cars on the streets.

Sisodia first rode to the All India Radio office for a live show and then cycled to his office at the Delhi Secretariat. (HT Photo)

“Good Morning Delhi! Ready for day 2 in fight againt cirruption with #OddEvenFormula. Day1 was a great success (sic),” Sisodia, who owns an odd-numbered car, tweeted.

He first rode to the All India Radio office for a live show and then cycled to his office at the Delhi Secretariat. “I am taking this mode of transport so I can understand the problems people are facing while following this (odd-even) plan. If we have made a rule, we should follow it ourselves,” a television news channel quoted him as saying.

More than a million private cars were banned from New Delhi’s roads earlier on Friday, as authorities began trialling the drastic new measures to cut air pollution in the world’s most polluted capital. For 15 days from January 1, only cars with odd-numbered licence plates are being allowed on the roads on odd-numbered dates and those with even-numbered plates.

Hundreds of traffic police and volunteers took to the streets to enforce the scheme including dozens of children wearing smog masks and holding banners urging drivers to comply.

On Friday, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal described the “success” of day one as a “movement” but admitted the 15-day trial could not be a permanent measure to solve the city’s pollution woes.

“It is not possible to implement the scheme permanently,” Kejriwal told a news channel. “These weapons are used on temporary basis to curb dangerous levels of pollution.”