Odd-even: Arvind Kejriwal rules out inclusion of two-wheelers

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday ruled out the inclusion of two-wheelers in the odd-even scheme, saying that without improving the public transport system, there would be “chaos” and “complete anarchy” on the city’s streets if this suggestion is implemented.

He termed as “false” the perception “held by many” that two-wheelers were excluded keeping the AAP votebank in mind and added that strengthening of public transport would require at least two years.

“Two-wheelers were not excluded because they are vehicles of the poor. The reason is when we anal-ysed data of odd-even Pha-se I we saw that ridership in Metro and bus had incr-eased by 0.7 per cent and five per cent only. People who left their cars went for carpooling. Buses were even empty and Metro had crowd like usual times. If two-wheelers are included, around 40 lakh of which ply in Delhi every day, people will go for Metro and buses and we don’t have that much capacity. There will be chaos and complete anarchy on the roads,” Mr Kejriwal said at an event organised by the Centre for Science and Environment.

“Till the time we don’t bring buses, which will require at least one-and-a-half to two years even if done at a war-footing, we cannot include two-wheelers. It’s not about votebank as people cutting across classes and religion voted for us and gave us 67 seats,” he said.

Mr Kejriwal’s comments came as his government denied that the odd-even scheme was causing traffic jams on some roads, saying it was due to construction and repair work being carried out by Delhi Metro, PWD and Delhi Jal Board.

City transport minister Gopal Rai also directed Metro, PWD and DJB to carry out construction and repair work at night.

Heavy traffic jams were witnessed at some of the roads in the national capital on Monday.

“Some people are saying that there have been traffic jams on roads due to the odd-even scheme. As per our study, construction and repair work being done by various agencies during day hours, is contributing significantly to road congestion. In view of this, the government has directed DMRC, DJB and PWD to take up their maximum possible construction and repair work during night hours,” he said.

Mr Rai added that the government has identified five points where traffic congestion is reported during the odd-even scheme.