Delhi govt hits out at Bassi, says police chief should not act as political spokesperson

New Delhi: Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai on Monday criticised city Police Commissioner B S Bassi for his remarks that action will be taken against any volunteer who takes law into his or her own hands during the odd-even scheme, saying Bassi should not talk like a spokesperson of a political party.

Rai also clarified that Delhi government will "not deploy AAP volunteers but Civil Defence personnel" during the road-rationing experiment and asked the police commissioner not to give "misinformation" to people of Delhi on the scheme.

Earlier in the day, Bassi said that odd-even scheme is being rolled out "in a hurry" and that action will be taken against any volunteer who takes law into his hands by forcing motorists to follow the restrictions.

Image courtesy: CNN-IBN screengrab

"I want to request Police Commissioner not to talk as a spokesperson of a political party. If they have some issues and advice, they should put them in a proper way so that we move to successfully implement the odd- even scheme," the transport minister said.

Rai said that if Bassi wants to get any information on odd-even scheme, he should get such details from the Special Commissioner (Traffic) who is a member of the preparatory committee and that he should refrain from delivering a speech allegedly under "political guidance".

"The issue raised by the police commissioner is factually incorrect. In Delhi, we were deploying 10,000 volunteers who are not of Aam Aadmi Party, instead they are civil defence personnel recruited by Delhi government...Government often deploys civil defence personnel for making its programmes successful. I want to request him not to give misinformation to the people of Delhi," the minister further said.

Four days before the scheme comes into force, Bassi on Monday said it would have been easier for his force to implement the scheme had there been "no exemptions" to various categories including those riding two- wheelers.

"The scheme has been rolled out in a hurry and as time has progressed, changes have been made to the original plan. When the original plan was announced, at that point of time, nobody thought that there would be so many exemptions," Bassi said.

"Only when the concerned party volunteers or civic volunteers report, we can educate them and use their efforts in building up capacity...However, the volunteers cannot stop people just anywhere and ask them to go back home, which would result in violation of provisions of the Indian Penal Code," said Bassi, adding, if any private individual is found indulging in any act which constitutes a criminal offence, they would take action.

PTI