NO ODD-EVEN SCHEME FOR BRIDES AND GROOMS

New Delhi: Vehicles ferrying grooms and brides should be exempted from the odd-even car rationing scheme when its second phase is implemented, a Delhi resident suggested to AAP Government during public consultations that ended on Sunday.

The Arvind Kejriwal government held two-day public consultations in all assembly constituencies seeking people’s opinion on the second phase of the odd-even scheme. At a programme in West Vinod Nagar on Sunday, a resident, Satyadev Bhandari, suggested Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia that Delhi government give exemption to vehicles ferrying marriage party. Exemption should be given by the government to those cars ferrying bride or groom with marriage stickers in the second phase of odd-even scheme, Satyadev said. Son of Satyadev will soon be getting married to a girl from Uttarakhand and keeping in mind this, he suggested the government to exempt such vehicles.

In the public consultation meetings, a majority of residents voted in favour of the odd-even scheme. Such meetings were on Sunday organised in Shakur Basti, Greater Kailash, Mehrauli, R K Puram, Ballimaran, Wazirpur, Karol Bagh, Jungpura, Chattarpur, Model Town and Kasturba Nagar.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a review meeting with his ministers tomorrow to discuss the next phase of the odd-even scheme, which is expected to be introduced in May or June after school and board examinations. Delhi government has decided to gather public opinion on the proposed second phase of the odd-even scheme by directly reaching out to at least 10 lakh residents through automated calls, supplementing a phone line and email address that are already in force. Calls are also being made through Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology, used by telecom companies among others, and are giving people a number of options on the proposed measure to choose from.

The government has already opened a dedicated phone line, a website, put up on line forms and launched an email address on a six-point questionnaire on the car-rationing measures. Over 10,000 on line forms have been downloaded in less than a week, more than 8,500 email responses have been submitted and around 45,000 calls made, a government official said.
The first phase of the plan was rolled out on January 1 and it stayed in force for 15 days.

PTI