Indian capital ends tentative odd-even campaign of traffic control

The Indian capital ended its two-week tentative odd-even campaign of traffic control on Friday with the local government claiming it a success.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the city's residents should continue it voluntarily without government supervision as it would benefit the city not only in terms of less pollution but also less traffic jams.

"We received overwhelming support for the odd-even plan," said the chief minister, elected from the Aam Aadmi Party.

Under India's first ever traffic control plan for environmental reasons that took effect beginning this year, odd numbered vehicles were allowed to drive on odd dates while even numbered vehicles took to the roads on even dates.

There were several exceptions to the plan including vehicles of VIPs, women drivers, emergency services and CNG-operated public transport.

"It is a question of our health, our children's health, our city," said Kejriwal. "People started saying that they had begun to carpool and were spending far less time on the roads. It looked as if Delhi's roads had been cleared of traffic congestion."

There has been tremendous public support from all walks of life for the effort to curb the killing toxic air pollution here, said officials.

The local government would decide in the coming weeks whether to make the plan into a permanent law in the city, which the World Health organization sees as the most polluted city in the world. Enditem