Posh South Delhi neighbourhoods give thumbs-up to odd-even

Posh and well-to-do neighbourhoods of Delhi are keen to witness the return of the odd-even restriction permanently and at the earliest.

Posh and well-to-do neighbourhoods of Delhi are keen to witness the return of the odd-even restriction permanently and at the earliest.

Resident of Bapa Nagar Karol Bagh, participating voting on the issue of odd/even plan for vehicles should be brought back on the roads. (Hindustan Times)

At the public consultation on the return of the road rationing scheme in the Capital, residents of Greater Kailash and Saket voted overwhelmingly in favour of the return of odd-even permanently. The house was divided between the reintroduction starting February 15 and May 1, with February being favoured slightly more than the other dates.

At the PVR Saket complex consultation for the Mehrauli assembly constituency close to 180 people were present. This number was around 250 at Greater Kailash II.

In Saket, out of all the people present only they said they would not want the odd-even restriction to return in any form.

In GK II no one opposed the return.

In the firing line at Saket were the exemptions given to women and VIPs.

Those who attended this meet voted in favour of bikes being exempted.

The crowd at the meet was mixed with people living in posh residential colonies of Saket comprising one half and those from lower middle class areas such as Sangam Vihar and Said-Ul-Ajab comprising the other.

“All the Resident Welfare Associations in the area want the restriction to be back but a few key issues need to be kept in mind. Last-mile connectivity and the plight of drivers out of jobs have to be kept in mind and an alternative provided to them,” said PK Mehta, vice president of 16 RWA bodies in Saket.

All pepped up about the odd even restriction, Probir Haldar, a resident of GK II and a green architect by profession suggested that with odd even implementation, government should focus on clearing footpaths.

“Government should start penalizing those who park cars on footpaths so that pedestrians can walk easily,” said Haldar.

There were others too who had certain suggestions for the government before they implement the odd even.

Ashok Puri, president of GK II Welfare Association said, “The real test of the government is to improve the public transport then think about implementing the odd even scheme. It also needs to give a clear thought on exemption to the two wheelers as they also contribute a lot to the pollution.”