Volunteers to be deployed at traffic lights 8 am to 8 pm
Volunteers to be deployed at traffic lights 8 am to 8 pm
With just four days to go before the Aam Aadmi Party government’s ambitious “odd-even” car restrictions policy is implemented in Delhi, the government has decided to go in for a “dry run” between 8 am and 8 pm on December 30. Delhi police commissioner B.S. Bassi said, however, that he was not aware of any such plan.
Delhi government officials said every arrangement will be the same during the dry run as when the new rule is put into force between January 1 and 15. Only, there will be no fines or prosecution on December 30.
Officials have said 10,000 civil defence volunteers will be deployed at traffic lights and will “educate and request car owners to follow the odd-even rule”. The planned use of volunteers has become controversial with the police chief warning against any attempt at vigilantism.
“No matter how good the cause is, we can’t let volunteers stop vehicles in running traffic. The law does not permit this, and neither will we,” Mr Bassi said Monday, adding that “no vigilantism will be tolerated”.
Reacting to this, Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh said the “volunteers will be there, but will work within the framework of the law”. He said his party volunteers will be there in every area and help implement the scheme. For the first 15 days of the New Year, odd-numbered cars will run on odd dates and even-numbered cars will run on even dates, barring exemptions granted to categories like VIPs, women, CNG vehicles, emergency vehicles and two-wheelers.
Some 3,000 extra buses commissioned for the 15-day road rationing plan will also be on the roads Wednesday for the “dry run”. All buses will have to follow the bus lane on December 30. Officials said 30 transport department interceptor teams will be deployed at different locations across Delhi to rehearse how to take action against any violations.
The government has asked the Delhi Metro to operate its trains at peak frequency for the entire day. Google will share real-time bus locations with passengers and Twitter will respond to queries of users with bus route numbers and scheduled timings.
A statement by Delhi Metro said that from January 1 to January 15, it will run 3,192 total trips, against 2,827 trips that it ran during the similar period this year. “DMRC will be using 198 trains daily to achieve these trips. The Delhi Metro will be pressing into service the maximum number of trains possible operationally during this period, keeping only the essential maintenance reserve. Additional manpower will be deployed to handle the increased load on the ticketing system,” it said.
