As the Odd-Even road rationing scheme kicked off in Delhi-NCR region on Monday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the people to follow the drive and protect their family from the toxic air.
“Namaste Delhi, odd-even is starting from today to reduce pollution. Please do follow it for yourself, your family, kids and your breath. Share cars. It will strengthen friendship, form relations, save petrol and pollution,” Kejriwal said in an early morning tweet in Hindi.
He exuded confidence that Delhi will follow the rule and control the deteriorating air quality in the national capital.
नमस्ते दिल्ली! प्रदूषण कम करने के लिए आज से Odd Even शुरू हो रहा है। अपने लिए, अपने बच्चों की सेहत के लिए और अपने परिवार की साँसों के लिए Odd Even का ज़रूर पालन करें। कार शेयर करें। इस से दोस्ती बढ़ेगी, रिश्ते बनेंगे, पेट्रोल बचेगा और प्रदूषण भी कम होगा।
दिल्ली फिर कर दिखायेगी
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 4, 2019
The Odd-Even rule, which is returning to the national capital for the third time, will continue till November 15 and will be applicable in Delhi from 8 am to 8 pm.
Vehicles carrying children in school uniform, two-wheelers, cars having all women as occupants and persons with disabilities have been exempted from the rule.
Vehicles used for medical emergencies during this 12-day have also been exempted by the Delhi government.
During the implementation of the 12-day scheme, a person violating the odd-even rules will be booked under the Motor Vehicle Act and will have to pay a fine of Rs 4000 against Rs 2000 during the previous edition of the scheme.
Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), tehsildars, traffic police, transport department, and assistant traffic inspector teams will be able to levy fines on the violators.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has geared up to make the scheme a success. The government has deployed 2000 additional buses and 61 more trips by metro to cater to commuters in the national capital.
The government has also issued advisories to Ola and Uber to not surge prices during the scheme, and to autorickshaws and e-rickshaws to avoid over-charging from commuters.
The government has also decided to stagger working hours of its offices during the scheme. Two timings on the openings of government offices have been fixed: 9:30 am and 10:30 am.
However, private offices in the city will not come under the government order.
Unprecedented air pollution hovered over 625 AQI in over all Delhi on Sunday and hit the 999-mark at parts of the national capital like Bawana. The capital woke up to thick layers of smog and near zero visibility that forced diversion of many flights to Delhi airport on Sunday.
With the air quality index (AQI) in Delhi rising to ‘severe plus’ category on Sunday, the Delhi government advised people to remain indoors as much as possible.