New Delhi: "Overwhelmed" by the response of the people to the odd-even car rationing experiment, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said that the pilot initiative of the AAP government has turned "into a movement".
Kejriwal's comments came two hours after the commencement of the radical scheme aimed at mitigating spiralling air pollution levels with the stipulation today that private cars bearing odd-registration plates will ply on city roads.
The Chief Minister said that as per initial reports, the plan has been "quite successful" and people in the national capital have largely accepted the restrictions "whole-heartedly".
"I repeatedly said that the scheme will meet with success only when people embrace it and not though force. It has become a movement and we are truly overwhelmed by the response we have received so far. Delhi will show way to the rest of the country," Kejriwal told reporters outside his residence.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who reached the Secretariat on his official car bearing odd-number registration plate, echoed the Chief Minister's observation saying that people have adopted the initiative as their "own mission".
"And government is merely assisting them. So this is the ideal situation," Sisodia said.
Kejriwal shared his car to the Secretariat with transport Minister Gopal Rai and Health Minister Satyender Jain. They live in North Delhi's Civil Lines area.
Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra reached the Secretariat on his two-wheeler at around 9 am and tweeted, "Wow Delhi Thank you for making #OddEvenFormula a success...just reached office on bike.. no traffic.. Delhi is following it voluntarily."
Two-wheelers are included in the list of 25 categories that have been kept out of the ambit of the scheme.
As per the scheme, cars bearing odd-numbered registration plates shall ply on city roads today while those with even number plates, if taken out, will attract a penalty of Rs 2,000 under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act.
Thousands of civil defence volunteers, traffic police personnel, enforcement teams of Delhi government's transport department and authorised sub-divisional magistrates have been deployed to implement the scheme which kicked in at 8 am and will be in force till 8 pm.
Delhi government, with the help of traffic police, had on Thursday conducted a rehearsal ahead of the roll out of the scheme and hundreds of civil defence volunteers were seen assisting police teams in several parts of the city.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has repeatedly stressed on the need for the scheme to be successful in view of the capital's alarming pollution levels, had warned volunteers against "arguing or misbehaving" with people while top cop BS Bassi has assured full cooperation in implementing the vehicular restrictions.
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