That Delhi is gasping for breath is only too well known. And nobody should have a gripe with the Delhi Chief Minister when he sets out to tackle the problem of foul air. On the contrary, a whole lot of motorists are not exactly jumping for joy with Arvind Kejriwal’s New Year gift.

January 1 will see the rollout of the odd-even formula for cars operating in Delhi. Cars with odd-numbered licence plates will only be allowed to be on the streets on the odd dates, and similarly with even-numbered plates and dates. The best piece of news for Delhiites is that the experiment is only for a fortnight.

“Not many people will work on January 1 as it is a holiday in many companies. The weekend follows which means we have to sweat it out for just 10 days,” says a relieved marketing executive. He says this is an “absolutely absurd exercise” which is just going to drive everyone up the wall.

“Just imagine if I decide to get away from Delhi by car for the weekend and am unable to enter the city on my return because of this ridiculous rule,” he continues. According to him, things could get particularly tricky for professionals like doctors who have late night emergencies and will end up breaking the law in the process.

Change of tact

“When you end up rushing out in the wee hours of the night in an odd-numbered car, how are you expected to get back home the following morning on the even-rule day?” counters a media professional. Either a person will choose to cough up the ₹2,000 fine or will fix a fake licence plate which is what many motorists will end up doing anyway, she adds.

Most Delhi residents are keeping their fingers crossed hoping that this experiment is not stretched beyond 15 days. If air quality is seen to have improved during this time, there is no reason why the government will not extend it. If this happens, the black market for fake car licence plates will also boom. Alternatively, demand for two-wheelers will rise since they have been exempted from this ruling.

There were similar curbs 15 years ago when the Supreme Court decreed that only compressed natural gas would be the fuel of choice in Delhi as part of the emissions roadmap. People complained bitterly about the long queues at CNG fuel stations but all this gradually stopped when supplies increased and the quality of air in Delhi actually improved.

Perhaps this experiment will see similar reactions before motorists eventually come to terms with reality. However, this time there are genuine concerns on alternative transport. The Metro is already running at packed capacity and it is not the easiest of tasks to press thousands of extra buses into service overnight. Vast numbers of policemen will be needed to penalise offenders and this is going to be a daunting challenge.

The Supreme Court has already banned registration of diesel cars and SUVS, with engine capacities of over 2000 cc, in Delhi for three months. For automakers with a big diesel presence in their product portfolio, the biggest fear is the possibility of this diesel ban continuing beyond the stipulated deadline of March 31, 2016. To recast business plans all over again while ensuring smooth functioning of their dealers and suppliers in the interim is not going to be a cake walk.

The Delhi government is determined to pull out all stops and ensure that the 15-day experiment goes through without too many glitches. It believes that there will be valuable takeaways from this trial period which will perhaps help it gear up for a far more pragmatic plan in the near future.

On the face of it, sweating it out for 15 days is really not a big deal for a city which has little choice but to go in for a quick cleanup exercise. People may just begin to appreciate the virtues of car pooling going forward. Beyond this, the need of the hour is to improve public transport and even contemplate gradations for those who are willing to pay more. Most people would not mind leaving their cars behind so long as the alternative is reasonably comfortable as is the case with many European cities.

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