Odd-even scheme has practical problems: Satish Upadhyay

New Delhi: Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay criticised the AAP government on Friday over the odd-even car scheme saying there were "practical problems" in its implementation even as senior BJP leader and Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi termed the move as a good start.

Upadhyay also sought to take a jibe at Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's for his claim that the movement was a success just hours after its implementation.

The Delhi government's ambitious odd-even scheme, to allow odd or even numbered vehicles on alternate days, got off to a decent start on New Year with volume of cars on the city roads coming down significantly amid deployment of thousands of policemen and moderately augmented public transport.

Expressing reservations over the odd-even scheme, Upadhayay said there were "practical problems" in the scheme which could have been discussed and ironed out before its implementation.

Citing his own experience, Upadhyay said, "I have both odd and even numbered vehicles but when I received a call about an injured party worker, I could not move immediately as only odd numbered vehicle was available while the even numbered one was being used by my son. Finally I called a friend but I was delayed half an hour in taking the worker to trauma centre."

"Also, there are problems like women not allowed to drive along with say their male family members even if they do not know driving. Many drivers who were driving even numbered cars paid fine just because they had no availability of public transport to their workplaces," he said.

"All these problems pointed that the scheme was launched in a hurry without working on its micro-detailing and coming out with solutions to the practical problems," he said.

Upadhyay also criticised Kejriwal for terming the scheme a "big success" within hours of its implementation.

"In just two hours of implementation of the scheme, Chief Minister Kejriwal termed it a big success which shows his eagerness to engage in politics over it. It would have been better if he said anything about its success after 15 days," he said.

However, welcoming the move, Naqvi said it was important to start somewhere to combat the alarming levels of pollution.

"It's a good start. We think the way pollution levels are reading at an alarming level, we need to start from somewhere.

We feel this is a good start and everyone should take it with a positive stride. Any initiative has a post mortem and its flaws are fleshed out.

"But the unfortunate part is whatever initiative Kejriwal or his party or government takes, he will spice it up with allegations and accusations," the Minister of State for Minority Affairs said.