The second phase of the odd-even, road-rationing scheme announced earlier this month by the Aam Aadmi Party government in the national capital has received support from the Automobile Association of Upper India (AAUI), which is the largest motoring association in northern India, with over 140,000 motorist family members.“The AAUI is appreciative of the move of the Delhi government in re-introducing the odd-even scheme for cars in the city, that aims at reducing pollution levels caused by vehicular emissions,” said T.K. Malhotra, president, AAUI. The AAUI, however, thinks that the scheme should be regulated in a manner so as to impose restrictions for two weeks every month. “It can be done in the first two weeks of a month and the last two weeks of the following month and so on. The scheme will, thus, gain constant and gradual momentum without a long break. It is better to keep motorists accustomed to this scheme by avoiding long gaps, such as we had in January and now restarting in April,” said Malhotra. The second phase of the odd-even scheme would be implemented in the national capital from 15-30 April, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced earlier this month.
Malhotra also said that there were some benefits from this scheme in the first phase, including less vehicular emissions on roads, increased traffic flow and less “idling”. “During the peak hours, cars are caught in huge traffic snarls and due to engines switched on, cause huge accumulation of emissions which threaten the environment. At least this (idling) was reduced somewhat during the first phase of the odd-even scheme.”
He also said that the rising levels of air pollution need a matching level of consciousness in people to fight the emission of exhaust gases. “We need to come out of the gas chamber and voluntarily accept the odd-even rules. We need to change our mindset and cynical attitudes to live a healthy life in the capital,” said Malhotra. “Though it is a positive step forward on the part of the government, the AAUI strongly suggests that the number of the new vehicles being registered daily should be reduced; otherwise, the situation will go totally out of control one day,” he added. Announcing the second phase of the odd-even scheme, Kejriwal had said, “It is being brought back after conducting a survey across Delhi through various means. Over 80% of the people wanted this scheme to be brought back.”