The second phase of the Kejriwal “odd-even’ vehicle scheme, will be enforced from today, for about 15 days. For this repeat experiment nearly 580 enforcement officers, 2000 traffic department people, and 5000 civil defense volunteers have taken to the roads to keep a check on the vehicles plying in the National capital.
In the second round, Kejriwal has appealed to the people to make this “odd even scheme” work. Surprisingly the defiance and agitation like last time is missing and protestors have not quite taken to the streets at the reintroduction of this “pollution control” measure by Kejriwal.
Transport Minister, Gopal Rai has given his statement to the media saying “An enforcement plan has been chalked out under which the city has been divided into 11 zones for the implementation of the scheme. Each zone will have 10 sectors. One mobile enforcement team will operate in each sector.” The judicial courts are at the moment free from people screaming against the phase two of the odd even scheme. People are not rushing to buy new cars to get new registration numbers, so is it time for Delhi to breathe a little better and to take in air with some less toxic substances?
Most of the homes have two cars and it was not very tough to follow the phase one “odd even scheme”. The denizens of Delhi definitely felt better even of the pollution levels could not be controlled. “Bring it on again” is the mantra now followed by the AAP, and this time the citizens are not raising a hue and cry about it. There was a dip in the toxicity levels but this exercise has made it evident that the rising pollution levels are not only because of vehicles only.
Something has to be done about the fly and coal ash, road dust and biomass pollution as they also contribute greatly to the unhealthy air. The “odd even scheme” is a small step but it definitely contributes to the pollution levels. The first phase was in January and the task was easier because many schools were shut down, this time the experiment results remain to be seen.
Conservative estimates have reported that “every Delhiite spends at least 30 minutes in traffic during peak hours one-way. At 60 minutes or one hour a day he/she spends approximately 15 complete days a year in traffic jams.” Traffic experts have also confirmed that when the scheme was implemented in January, “the average speed of vehicles on the city’s roads had gone up from 19 kilometers per hour to above 25 kilometers per hour. This is because roads remained more or less empty with half the vehicles off it.”
Do you want Delhi to halt and come to a standstill with the high pollution and traffic congestion? Traffic can be more organized and life slightly simpler. The January experiment proves this. Any comments?
