Government Not To Use School Buses During 2nd Phase Of Odd-Even Scheme: Rai

NEW DELHI, February 10: Aggrieved over most private schools not giving their buses during first phase of odd-even scheme, the Delhi government has decided not to seek their services during the second phase of the car-rationing scheme which is likely to be introduced after CBSE Board Exams. Sources said that government is contemplating to implement the second phase of odd-even scheme for 15 days from May 1 even as the final decision on the future of road-rationing experiment will be announced by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tomorrow. Transport Minister Gopal Rai said that since government had got only around 300 school buses during the implementation of first phase of odd-even scheme, they have decided not to hire school buses under the second phase of the scheme. Rai further said that government will only engage buses of private operators who had given their buses in good numbers to it during the first phase of odd-even scheme to accommodate extra rush of passengers. 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. AAP MLAs, who organised Jan Sabhas on the same theme, have claimed that public opinion was "overwhelmingly" in favour of re-introduction of the scheme. -PTI