Delhi's 'impractical and weird' odd-even car policy slammed in Rajya Sabha and Lok sabha

New Delhi: The Delhi government’s decision to allow odd-even number cars to ply on alternative days from next month on Monday came in for sharp criticism from the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, which dubbed it as “impractical and weird” and called for its reconsideration. Raising the issue during Zero hour in the Upper House, Pramod Tiwari (Cong) said it is an “arbitratory” and “impractical” decision that would cause major inconvenience to people in Delhi which does not have a robust public transportation. [caption id=“attachment_2535920” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Image courtesy: PTI[/caption] “This is a serious issue. We don’t want to see a law and order situation and the Government of India should issue an advisory on this,” he said, adding that other countries implemented such an idea after developing public transport. He sought to know how this kind of idea can be implemented when the state has not improved basic public infrastructure. Echoing his views, Karan Singh from the Congress said “It is very weird and unusual suggestion. Something has to be done. This suggestion should be reconsidered and other alternatives should be thought about to address pollution.” To this, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “It relates to the decision of the Delhi government. We have to address pollution. In theory, we accept it, but the suggestion is impactical.” However, Jayaram Ramesh (Cong) disassociated with his party colleague on the issue saying air pollution was a serious issue. There is “no harm in trying for some days” the idea of allowing odd-even car numbers to ply on alternative days. The government’s decision has also been criticized in Lok Sabha by Mahesh Girri (BJP) who raised the issue and said that the Delhi government has proposed a scheme that would “inconvenience lakhs of people”, but has still not taken any action against waste-to-energy plants in Okhla, which were scheduled to be shutdown by 2013 but still continue to function. The East Delhi MP said that these plants were a major source of pollution and emitted gasses that could cause cancer. The odd-and-even scheme would affect many poor people who use two-wheelers for work, he claimed. PTI