99% compliance rate during odd-even 2.0, says govt

As odd-even 2.0 came to an end on Saturday, the Delhi government said that there was a 99.6% compliance rate.

City Transport Minister Gopal Rai said that the number of challans dropped in the second round. Compared to 10,058 challans in the first round in January, 8,988 challans were issued from April 15-April 29 for violations during the second phase. “It is true that compared to odd-even 1, the second round was tougher. But Delhiites completed it successfully and made history,” Rai told reporters here.

On the last day of the road rationing scheme, aimed at bringing down pollution levels, the capital’s average air quality was recorded in the ‘very poor’ category with PM 2.5 levels touching 184.3 micrograms per cubic metre, three times the prescribed standard.

The government had earlier set up a six-member committee to study the impact of opening of schools and hot weather in its second edition and also suggest when the government should implement the next edition of the scheme. The committee will also compare the two models of odd-even (January and April) and submit a report to the Transport Ministry by May 10, after which a decision on the next round will be taken. “Now we have two models of odd-even; one in winters and one in summers. So the committee will do a comparative study and then we will take a final decision on the next round,” said Rai.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) will be collecting samples till May 6 to conduct a comparative study of before, during, and after odd-even. The minister, however, claimed that till now a drop in pollutants concentration has been seen in 55-63 places in Delhi’s inner circle.

“In border areas, the pollution levels increased three times compared to inner areas where it has gone down significantly. We had conducted a study of pollution levels at 74 locations, including NCR, during the second phase. Out of 74, 55-63 locations, which were inner areas, witnessed reduction in pollution levels while pollution level increased at only 10-15 areas which are located at border areas,” he said.

The DPCC will submit a comprehensive report on May 9.

Rubbishing allegations that people have been encouraged to buy two cars to beat the odd-even, the minister presented data of the number of vehicles registered between January and April.

From January 1 to April 28 this year, 1,86,130 vehicles were registered but from September to December last year, 2,37,228 vehicles were registered. Also, during the first phase, 39,000 CNG stickers were issued as compared to 28,000 in the second round.

Rai also claimed that barring seven locations, there were no actual problems of congestion and traffic jams and that at least 300 locations were congestion free during the road rationing plan.

On an average, Delhi Metro did 3,248 trips more and 26.29 lakh people travelled by metro. About 38.46 lakh passengers travelled in DTC buses and 10 lakh in cluster buses (orange colour).

Rai claimed that after “successful implementation” of the second round of odd-even in Delhi, other cities like Beijing and Moscow have shown interest in the scheme to tackle increasing levels of pollution.