Transport Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday claimed that incidents of fire in a forested area behind Raj Ghat and at municipal landfill sites was a “conspiracy to sabotage” the second phase of the odd-even scheme in a “planned way”.
Mr. Rai also alleged that usual congestion at as many as 32 prominent points in the Capital despite the implementation of odd-even restrictions pointed to a related plot aimed at the same objective.
Meanwhile, the government did not release data related to the total number of challans issued on Thursday, a break from the norm since the enforcement of the scheme; only the figure of 104 fines issued till afternoon were available. The traffic police said 189 fines were issued.
Last week, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh wanted to “sabotage” the scheme, when auto unions had called a day-long strike which was later withdrawn.
“Since the (second phase of) odd-even scheme started, we have noticed that traffic congestion has suddenly increased on the roads. Some auto unions had called a strike and now, municipal landfill sites and a forested area near Raj Ghat have caught fire,” Mr. Rai told reporters. “These incidents indicate a conspiracy is being hatched to sabotage the odd-even in a planned way,” he added.
He said traffic jams were not a result of the car-rationing formula and claimed that most vehicles on the roads were from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, which was “unusual”, adding that from January 1 to April 14, 1,63,907 vehicles were registered with the city’s transport department. Of these, 1,44,005 were private and the rest were commercial, while 2,14,394 vehicles were registered from September to December last year. Of these, 22,934 were commercial ones.
Between January 1 and April 14, 12,126 private vehicles were fitted with CNG kits as against 5,463 from September to December last year, he said. Indraprastha Gas Limited issued CNG stickers to 3.90 lakh vehicles in the first phase of the scheme and 20,000 have been given the stickers in its second phase so far.
The data indicates that the scheme is not the reason behind the traffic jams, “but there is some other reason contributing to chaos on roads”, he said. The Minister claimed the government has received an audio clip of a conversation between a DTC driver and an unknown person, in which the former was demanding Rs. 1,000 for halting the vehicle on the road as a break-down bus.
The government is yet to release data related to the number of challans issued on Thursday, which is a break from the norm
