Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that the Delhi government is “seriously” mulling a proposal to enforce the odd-even scheme for 15 days every month.
Addressing a press conference, Mr Kejriwal said a fortnight every month was being thought of since it cannot be made permanent in the absence of a robust public transport system.
The odd-even scheme, which returns in the city on April 15, leaves cars carrying children in school uniform out of its ambit, the only tweak in the blueprint for its implementation when compared to the first phase.
The list of exemptions include VIP and CNG cars, vehicles being driven by women, cases of medical emergency and cars carrying disabled persons, Mr Kejriwal told a press conference.
He admitted that implementing the exemption to cars carrying children in school uniform would be tricky as not all such vehicles stay behind to bring students back from school.
“There are two types in this case. In one case, a vehicle drops a child to school, stays put, and brings him back. But there are cases where a child may not be in the car on one side of the journey. It will cause a little trouble,” Mr Kejriwal said.
He advised parents to explore the car-pooling option or “adjust” their children with neighbours.
The chief minister said the trouble for them “won’t be much” as there are only nine working days during the fortnight in which the second phase of restrictions will be in force.
“We thought about it. But then it is mainly women who pick up children after school hours and they are exempted in any case. An individual won’t face trouble for more than four to five days,” he said.
Transport minister Gopal Rai said that Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) are geared up to tackle any extra rush as commuters turn to public conveyance during the period when the odd-even scheme is in force.
Mr Kejriwal also urged Union ministers, who have been given exemption under odd-even scheme, to voluntarily follow the car-rationing experiment.
Like the first phase of odd-even scheme, the AAP government has kept the Union ministers out of the ambit of second phase of the scheme.
“Although Union ministers have been exempted from the ambit of odd-even scheme, I urge them with folded hands to follow the scheme voluntarily as several judges, who had been given exemptions from the first round of odd-even scheme, had done,” Mr Kejriwal said.
