Fewer private cars were seen on roads as the second phase of the odd-even scheme rolled out in Delhi on Friday to combat spiralling air pollution. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to the people to join hands to make the initiative a success.
In the first few hours after the second phase of the scheme was rolled out in the morning, nearly 511 drivers were penalised Rs 2,000 each for violating the scheme rules.
Nearly 129 violators were fined in the Southern range, 108 in Western range, 97 in Central range, 78 in Outer range, 57 in the East range and 42 in Northern range.
The Delhi government, which has projected the second phase of the road-rationing policy as the “decisive” one, said that 2,000 traffic personnel, 580 enforcement officials and over 5,000 civil defence volunteers are being deployed by it for smooth implementation of the scheme which will run for 15 days, until April 30.
The actual impact of the scheme will be known only on Monday, the first full working day after the second phase rollout.
Meanwhile, asserting that the odd-even scheme by the Delhi government was doing nothing but causing inconvenience to the commuters, former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit accused her successor Arvind Kejriwal of heavily publicising the scheme in a blatant attempt to fool the public into believing that the formula was a raging success.
Two hundred metro trains will make around 3,248 trips daily during the next fortnight, an increase of about 56 trips over the existing arrangements, DMRC has said. 15 additional feeder buses will also leave from stations across the city.
(Inputs from PTI.)
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