The Delhi Government has stated that it will impose the next phase of the odd-even formula for cars from 15-30 April 2016, after the state board exams are over. In a press conference, Arvind Kejriwal, CM of Delhi, said that those who did not use their personal cars preferred to carpool instead of using public transport, which led to Delhi Metro ridership increasing by 0.4% and bus ridership by 7%. Delhi has around 30-40 lakh bikes; and around 15-20 lakh people will take to buses and the Metro, both of which do not have the capacity to handle those many people. Kejriwal added that unless public transport was fixed, this rule could not be imposed on bikes. The Government is considering if this odd-even rule can be applied for 15 days every month, but has not finalised on anything, and will wait for the second phase to get over before it passes any rules. Through the odd-even rule, Delhi citizens will only have to put up with 6-7 days of discomfort in a month, and it would be great if they did this, Kejriwal added. Women will be exempt from this rule, like the last time. The government will employ 500 retired defence personnel as traffic enforcement inspectors since in the January trial, the regular work of SDMs was stopped. Out of the 500 defence personnel, 250 will be in enforcement team leadership. The government will also increase the number of buses and make private contracts with bus providers to make the…
