Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal unveils blueprint for odd-even vehicle plan

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December 25, 2015

NEW DELHI: Women travelling alone or with young children, VIPs and two-wheelers are among 25 kinds of motorists who will be excluded from Delhi's 'odd and even' vehicle regulation experiment between January 1 and 15, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday.

New Delhi, India Traffic Jam – Provided by MotorTrend

December 25, 2015

NEW DELHI: Women travelling alone or with young children, VIPs and two-wheelers are among 25 kinds of motorists who will be excluded from Delhi's 'odd and even' vehicle regulation experiment between January 1 and 15, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday.

New Delhi, India Traffic Jam – Provided by MotorTrend

Announcing the blueprint of the plan to check the number of vehicles on Delhi roads to fight alarmingly high air pollution levels at his official residence, Kejriwal said all permissions for this scheme have been received and a notification for this plan will be issued on Monday.

"Pollution is becoming a very serious problem. It is a problem for which we will together have to find a solution. The government can take initiatives, but they will need everyone's participation to succeed," he said. The intention was not to impose an idea, but to make the odd and even scheme a "mass movement".

"I understand you all will be inconvenienced. But this is for all of us, not the government. For our health and environment," the chief minister said. He conceded that public transport does not have the capacity to take load of all car passengers, but a "practical" thing to do he felt was to do carpooling. A mobile app for the same will be launched in the next two-three days, he said.

The chief minister, however, cautioned against carpooling with strangers "for safety reasons".

While all VIPs from central and state governments, judiciary and embassies are exempted, Kejriwal said he himself and the Aam Aadmi Party ministers will carpool and abide by the regulation.

While the overall approach of implementing the policy was through requests by volunteers, Kejriwal said there will be a hefty penalty for violators also. "The fine for violating the odd and even vehicle regulation will be Rs 2,000," he said. ET had reported this on December 11.

"If the public accepts the idea at a large scale, violators will be penalized. But if entire Delhi opposes it, motorists won't be penalized. The scheme then will have to be closed down after a few days," the chief minister said.

This won't be a "continuous" exercise and following a "reassessment" after of couple of months, the idea will be implemented in stages, he said.

Delhi odd-even formula: 10 things you need to know

  1. Starting January 1, 2016, the odd and even car number formula will be implemented in Delhi. Odd number cars are to run on odd dates, even numbered cars on even dates.
  2. It will be running for 15 days only. May be used again later.
  3. Rs 2,000 fine for violating the rule.
  4. It will be not be applicable on Sundays.
  5. Timing is between 8am to 8pm.
  6. Parking will also be not allowed for odd cars on even days and vice-versa.
  7. Single women drivers are not included in this scheme and children up to 12 years of age can travel with a woman driver.
  8. More buses to be added plus a car pool app to be launched.
  9. Two-wheelers are exempted along with various emergency vehicles, hybrids, EVs, CNG cars (you need to show certificate), vehicles of physically challenged.
  10. Cars entering Delhi from outside are also included in this rule.

Courtesy: Motor Trend India / ET