Voluntary compliance, not enforcement, by commuters seems to be the most significant reason for adherence to odd-even formula launched on January 1 in Delhi so far.
To see how things were working on an even date on Saturday, this reporter faced a tough time as every time an odd-numbered vehicle passed, it either had a CNG sticker pasted in the front or it had all women as passengers.
After dozens of vehicles passed, an odd-numbered vehicle without a CNG sticker having male passengers was spotted.
Trailing this Haryana number plate (HR51Al-7685) vehicle for around ten kilometres from Malviya Nagar to RK Puram, it was found that the vehicle was neither stopped anywhere during the whole route, nor was it "politely" asked to return after being presented with a rose by civil defense personnel who were seen at most intersections holding placards promoting the odd-even formula.
In absence of any visible prosecution, this indicates that Delhiites who are following the rule are either doing it voluntarily, or they are simply not aware that those flouting rules are getting away with it.
It was again after a not so long wait that vehicle number HR99XHT-7169 arrived at the scene flouting the odd-even formula. Throughout the journey from RK Puram to Barakhamba Road it was found that the vehicle was stopped not even a single time.
To his (driver) credit, perhaps realising that his vehicle was violating the even-odd rule and may invite a fine of Rs 2000, the driver slowed down at each and every intersection and roundabout and looked in all directions. Without fail, he chose a road that had no presence of traffic police. He, however, did pass some civil defense personnel holding red roses. But sadly, he never got a rose.
That was not the end of the story as another vehicle was found flouting the odd-even formula. And interestingly, this time around a Delhi number plate with Delhi Assembly sticker was spotted.
Vehicle number Dl10CC-2139 traveled from Hailey Road to the inner circle of Connaught Place (CP) without any problem whatsoever. What was even more baffling was the odd-numbered vehicle with two men and no CNG sticker even found a place in the DIMTS parking lot in CP (near Metro gate no 5).
Without checking the vehicle number, the parking staff issued a parking slip to the driver and allowed him to park inside the lot.
When asked if the parking staff were checking whether the vehicles entering are odd-numbered or even, he replied in affirmative, meaning that he was aware of the rule and he still allowed the vehicle to be parked inside.
It was only after it was pointed out to him that he just allowed an odd-numbered vehicle inside on an even date that he got flustered and made the vehicle to leave the parking lot after a brief argument with the driver.
This makes one wonder if there is enough presence of enforcement teams on roads of the city to enforce the scheme or if it all depends on the residents of Delhi to decide whether the scheme would fail or succeed. So far, the residents of Delhi are complying. But with sparse presence of enforcement teams, would they be encouraged to flout the rule on subsequent days, based on their requirementIJ
It remains to be seen how Delhiites deal with the situation on Monday when they would have to show up at work after a long weekend. Will they still comply and use the public transport, or will they take out their cars, irrespective of the registration numberIJ