e-News® | The NEWS Company…NEW DELHI, Dec 5, 2015 : The Delhi government announced on Friday each private car and two-wheeler will be allowed on the city’s roads only every other day from next year in a bid to even the odds stacked against authorities in their efforts to clean up the toxic air. Delhi has more than 87 lack vehicles, half of which hit the road every day.
Private vehicles will be allowed to run on the streets on alternate days depending on whether their license plates end in even or odd numbers, the government declared a day after it faced criticism from the Delhi high court over the city’s mounting pollution problem. The method, more commonly known as road space rationing, is followed in various forms across the world, though experts said implementation could prove to be a major challenge as well over two million vehicles would have to be kept off the roads every day.
A government official told journalist “They are talking about implementing this plan in a city where no one is ready to follow basic traffic rules.”
The model is already in force in Beijing, which Delhi surpassed last year to be ranked as the world’s most polluted city in a WHO report. The decision taken at a meeting headed by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will not apply to CNG-driven buses, taxis, auto-rickshaws and emergency vehicles but will cover automobiles entering Delhi from other states. Officials say even-numbered cars will be allowed to run on even days and odd-numbered ones on odd days.
Earlier this year the city ordered all private cars older than 10 years to be taken off the roads, becoming the second major city in the world to do so after Beijing. Last year, the World Health Organization named the Indian capital as the world’s most polluted, with 12 other Indian cities ranking among the worst 20. Mean while Police has said that Aam Aadmi Party government did not consult it over the decision to restrict plying of private vehicles bearing odd and even registration numbers to alternate days. Talking to reporters, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said, if the proposal ever comes to the department, it will be examined by the traffic department and further action will be taken only in public-interest.