Delhi’s first ‘Car-free Day’ on Thursday was a partial success as very few cars plied on the 6.5 kilometer stretch between Red Fort and India Gate. ‘Ab Bas Karein’ campaign, aimed to make Delhi free of pollution and traffic congestion, was kicked off by a cycle rally led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who cycled from Red Fort to Bhagwan Das Marg. He was joined by Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, other Cabinet Ministers and officials of the Delhi Government along with hundreds of cyclists including children, women as well as elderly persons.
Transport Minister Gopal Rai announced that the next Car-free Day will be held on November 22 in Dwarka area, which will be a full-day event unlike this time which was cut short to 7 am to 12 noon due to Dussehra celebrations.
While there were a few cars that plied on the “car-free” stretch, it remained more or less car-free during the designated time between 7 am to 12 noon, aided by AAP volunteers, Transport Department officials and heavy police presence on the whole stretch. Those who did not agree to keep their vehicles off the designated stretch were greeted with rose stems from volunteers who urged them to cooperate.
leading from the front while riding his bicycle, CM Kejriwal made an appeal to the Delhi residents to avoid their cars and make bicycle riding a daily habit. Stressing on the health benefits of cycling, Kejriwal said that this habit is especially beneficial for diabetes patients like him.
“Riding bicycle is good for health and people like me who are diabetic will get benefits from riding bicycle,” Kejriwal said.
Commending the initiative taken by Transport Minister Gopal Rai, he said, “Today’s Car-free Day is symbolic and in the coming days, we will have to make Delhi’s roads safer. When traffic congestion will decrease on the city’s roads, people will feel safe while riding bicycles on roads. Since Delhi is witnessing increasing pollution and huge congestion on roads, it is difficult for any person to ride a cycle. We will have to put a stop to the rising pollution and congestion so that most people will be able to ride cycles on the city’s roads.”
The Transport Minister, who took a ride in the DTC bus first with the public and later with the media-persons, called Thursday’s event “a good beginning” and said that he didn’t expect such an overwhelming response.
“I did not expect such a response with people showing up in such great numbers early in the morning at the Red Fort. It makes me hope that the campaign will get stronger each month creating awareness among the people of Delhi and by September 22 next year, when we celebrate World Car Free Day, whole Delhi would be able to participate with same enthusiasm that we saw today,” he said.
Rai further added that by that time (September 22, 2016), Delhi Government will also provide better public transport so that people don’t face any inconvenience by leaving their cars back at home.
Sharing the details, Rai said that 2000 new buses will be put on the roads before World Car Free Day in September next year. “Tender for 1000 of them under the cluster scheme has already been issued. Another tender for the same number of buses for the Delhi Transport Corporation will also be issued soon. We are building five new depots for the 1000 buses under the cluster scheme which will take 4-5 months. The new buses will start coming in from March next year,” he said.
Rai also said that ten roads have been identified which will be redesigned over the next year and will have separate lanes for buses, bicycles and pedestrians.
In order to make the exercise a success and ensuring people don’t face any inconvenience in the car-free stretch, DTC ran buses at a frequency of 3-4 minutes. Besides, a section of autorickshaw drivers also offered free rides to people wanting to commute between Red Fort to India Gate.