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Odd-even phase 2 from April 15 to 30 in Delhi, says Arvind Kejriwal

Women drivers to be exempt this time as well; over 60 per cent people want the scheme to be made permanent.

New Delhi: Amid overwhelming response by the people to reintroduce the odd-even formula, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that the next phase of this scheme would be implemented for 15 days from April 15 this year.

"We will start the next phase from April 15. By then, the board exams will also be over. The next phase will be for 15 days from April 15-30," said Arvind Kejriwal.

Women drivers will be exempt in the second phase as well, but the other categories were yet to be finalised, the chief minister added.

Kejriwal, who was speaking on the implementation of round two of the odd-even formula for cars, said, “After a survey, 81 per cent people in Delhi have said that odd-even should be brought back.”

The Delhi chief minister said that over 60 per cent people are in favour of making the odd-even scheme permanent. He also added that an overwhelming number of people wanted that VIPs should not be exempt from the scheme.

The Delhi Chief Minister pointed out that 63 percent of the people responding to a question on website wanted the scheme to be implemented on a permanent basis while 26 percent wanted it to be implemented for 15 days in a month.

He, however, said that the scheme cannot be implemented on a permanent basis until the public transport system of the city improves. "By May this year, we will get 1,000 more buses, By August, we will get 1,000 more buses and by December we will get 1,000 more. So, by the end of this year, we will have 3,000 more buses," he added.

The road rationing experiment, aimed at curbing air pollution in the metropolis, was implemented from January 1-15 in its first phase with Sundays being exempted from it.

Subsequently, the government invited public opinion through emails, missed calls, online forms and also reached out to around 9 lakh people through interactive voice response system.

"Around 28,300 suggestions have been received through online forms while another 9,000 and 1,82,808 have come through emails and missed called respectively. The government, on its part, has made more than 9,00,000 calls to gather public opinion," a senior government official said.

( Source : deccan chronicle )
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