Delhi Govternment To Deliberate On Re-introduction Of Odd-Even

NEW DELHI, February 9: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a review meeting tomorrow with his ministers and officials concerned on the implementation of the proposed second phase of the odd-even car-rationing scheme. The pilot plan was implemented from January 1-15 with Sundays being exempted from it. Based on "positive" response from the public received through different platforms, the government has decided to deliberate on re-introducing the scheme. Four probable launching dates for the second phase are being looked at - February 14, March 1, April 1 and May 1. A senior official said Delhi government has received over 11 lakh responses on the future course of its car-rationing scheme and most of them voted in favour of the plan that seeks to cut down air pollution by promoting use of public transport. "The Chief Minister has convened a review meeting with his ministers and officials from concerned departments tomorrow to discuss and analysis the responses sent by the masses since January 26," the official said. Sources said that the next phase of odd-even scheme will be introduced after the CBSE Board examinations. The government received the public opinion through emails, missed calls, online forms and suggestions of people whom it reached out to 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. Now we will analyse the responses, he added. An email-id 'oddevenidea@gmail.com' was opened on January 26 to invite public opinion on the scheme, while a dedicated website and a phone line was launched on February 1. Also people's response was gathered through automated calls through IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) where they were given a number of options on the proposed second phase of the odd-even scheme. Apart from these, 'jan sabhas' (public meetings) were held across the city on two days to get more feedback. AAP MLAs, who organised the meetings, have claimed that public opinion was "overwhelmingly" in favour of re-introduction of the scheme which was rolled out on January 1 for a fortnight in the first phase. A structured questionnaire was put forth by the government on whether the scheme should be implemented again, if yes, when it should be done and for what duration among others. It had also asked people whether the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister and Union ministers should be exempted in the second phase. The status of women drivers, who were exempted in the first phase, will also be decided based on the responses. The government is likely to implement the next phase of scheme after it seeks to first address two major concerns related to commuting by school children and the possibility of people purchasing another car to circumvent the restrictions. -PTI