The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government has said that single women drivers as well as cars with only women passengers and patients will be exempted from the odd-even formula proposed to cut down the number of vehicles on the national capital roads in order to combat pollution.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made the announcement on Wednesday after meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the scheme among other issues. He said that the Centre is ready to cooperate in the implementation of the scheme introduced by AAP.
"If there is a patient in a car, it will be exempted, if a single woman is driving, it will also be exempted. If there is an emergency... he (Rajnath Singh) flagged out some issues and we said we will sort it. The response was positive," IANS quoted Kejriwal as saying.
"However, where the woman is accompanied by a male passenger, an exemption may lead to misuse," The Times of India quoted him as saying.
The exemption came after Singh raised concerns about emergency situations, the safety of women travellers who drive back home alone after work and two-wheeler drivers who may be living in areas with no access to public transport.
Kejriwal agreed with Singh's concerns and said that his government will review the scheme and make desirable changes. "Will sort out the issues, prepare an outline of the scheme and discuss it with the Centre," The Times of India quoted him as saying.
The odd-even formula will come into effect on 1 January 2016 from 8 am to 8 pm for 15 days on a pilot basis. "We will test it over 15 days, learn from it and enforce it further," Kejriwal said.
The scheme aims at reducing the number of cars on the road by allowing odd and even numbered vehicles to run on alternate dates. The vehicles with even number plates will ply on even dates and odd on odd dates, according to reports.
