Delhi Govt on odd-even formula: Arrangements made for tomorrow

A day before its implementation on a full-fledged working day, the Delhi government today said that elaborate arrangements have been made to meet the "real challenge" as part of which volunteers will be using hidden cameras to take snaps of violators and additional police forces would be fielded to ensure its effective compliance.
Transport minister Gopal Rai today held a coordination committee meeting which was attended by senior officers from Traffic Police, Delhi Police, civil defence force, Metro officials and other agency heads engaged in implementation of the ambitious car-rationing scheme, which came into force on January 1.
The government's move to ask the volunteers, comprising civil defence personnel, NCC and NSS cadets, to click pictures assumes significance as they were initially asked to focus on mindset change by resorting to polite tactics like handing out roses.

"As we saw that on the first day of this pilot project, people came out with odd-numbered vehicles and on the second day yesterday, even-numbered vehicles plied on the capital roads. This itself is an indication that the mindset of people for environment is changing and I salute all Delhiites for this 2 days' success", Gopal Rai said after the meeting here.
The government said that DTC would possibly ferry around 64 lakh commuters tomorrow onwards, much more than the usual figures, while Metro is expected to carry 32 lakh commuters against the previous data of 26 lakh daily.
"Civil defence volunteers will be given mobile camera and hidden cameras to be used to track violators. Very strong monitoring would be resorted to and no soft approach would be taken. Additional 100 teams of traffic police will be fielded on roads to monitor," Rai said.

Rai also mentioned that "a few people" want to ensure the failure of this scheme.

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Rai said
"In today's coordinating committee meeting, I reviewed the last two days' activities. I will also talk to Police Commissioner B S Bassi tonight for deployment of local police for maintaining law and order apart from the traffic police."
In this regard, Rai said that so far there are 200 traffic police teams for enforcement of this scheme and 100 more teams will be deployed to meet tomorrow's 'challenge'.
Besides, 66 teams of transport department which were working in two shifts of 33 teams each will work from morning to evening, he said.

Asking people not to panic, Rai said that the transport department has made a special squad of 100 buses which will give additional service in four zones with 25 buses each.
Apart from this, 1,000 school buses of DTC have also been roped in, considering the natural escalation in number of commuters tomorrow, the minister said while talking to media persons.
"In case of any heavy traffic jam at any intersection, you can call on a special helpline number 011-411-400-400. Our special buses will reach there and provide immediate help to commuters on such pressure points," Rai added.
Painting a bright picture of the road-rationing scheme, he said 80 per cent people have gone for car pooling in last two days and 20,000 have downloaded 'Poocho' android mobile app.

"All district magistrates, additional district magistrates and tehsildars will be on special duty tomorrow. There have been 567 challans so far by all agencies. We are closely monitoring auto-rickshaw challans also and there have been 348 so far," he said while making it clear that the enforcement wing will act strictly and immediately leaving no loose ends.
Commenting upon pollution levels, Rai said that pollution levels have decreased and Delhi has become jam-free in just two days. He exhorted Delhiites to cooperate with the government in this scheme and termed Monday's outcome as their own victory or defeat.
However, despite being a Sunday, the pollution levels remained on the higher side.

Particulate matters PM 2.5 and PM 10, harmful microscopic particles that can harm lungs and enter the bloodstream, were recorded around 205 and 328 micrograms per cubic metre respectively, way above the safe limits of 60 and 100.
SAFAR's hourly average showed that level of pollutants rose steadily and did not display any downward trend till evening.
Several monitoring stations of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had air quality in the 'severe' category.