The road-rationing experiment was praised by the city’s municipal councillors, commissioners and other civic officials, who said they would extend full cooperation to make the scheme a success.
“We are fully abiding by the rules prescribed during this 15-day period. And, though it’s a kind of light day today, one could actually feel that it was easier to drive on the streets. I mean normally, I would be stuck at India Gate hexagon area, but today we just whizzed past it,” NDMC commissioner P.K. Gupta said.
All three municipal corporations — North, East and South (NDMC, EDMC and SDMC) — and other civic and urban agencies like the DMRC and DDA have been instructed to allow parking of vehicles according to the restricted registration numbers only.
“As per the directive, we are allowing parking of odd-numbered vehicles today only and we will follow the rule for the remainder of the scheme also. Though it means revenue losses for us, but it’s a small price to pay for a cleaner environment,” Mr Gupta said.
The NDMC commissioner said some of the municipal officials had also car-pooled to support the initiative.
“I myself have an odd-numbered car, which I drove to office today. Tomorrow, I will think of an alternative, but we will ensure strict implementation of the rule,” he said.
Congress councillor Abhishek Dutt, of Andrews Ganj ward, said, “As per the vision of my party, I welcome any step that is in the interest of people and for the benefit of environment.”
“We are fully cooperating with this initiative, and in fact, I have been encouraging people to car-pool in my area. Also, three days back, we launched a campaign to promote use of cycles. We are all for a greener environment,” he said.
“However, I also think that this scheme should have been implemented only after strengthening the necessary supplementary and complementary infrastructure, like increased security in Metro and boosting of last-mile connectivity. Without which it would just remain an eyewash,” Mr Dutt added.
