Make odd-even permanent: Vijender

New Delhi: Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh on Friday urged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to make the odd-even traffic scheme permanent to tackle pollution in the national capital. Vijender, who has now become a professional boxer, met Kejriwal at the Delhi Secretariat here and congratulated him over the success of the odd-even formula in Delhi in the past and said it needed to be reintroduced.

“The odd-even (scheme) was a huge success and relief. It must be made permanent," Singh said. He also invited the chief minister to watch his professional boxing match slated to be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on June 11. Kejriwal accepted the invitation.

The next phase of the odd-even formula will be launched from April 15 to 30 in Delhi. It was last implemented in the national capital from January 1 to 15. Under the scheme, four-wheelers with odd and even registration numbers can ply on alternate dates. CNG vehicles, ambulances and certain other categories are exempt from the scheme.

Meanwhile, in the wake of President's rule being imposed in Arunchal Pradesh and Uttarakhand owing to a crisis in the ruling party, Delhi Kejriwal said he will never let such an "incident" be repeated in the national capital. While noting that the Opposition should be heard by the ruling party MLAs, Kejriwal also asked the Opposition to respect the mandate of the people.

Referring to the imposition of President's Rule in Arunchal Pradesh and Uttrakhand, Kejriwal said, "Opposition should respect the mandate of Delhiites. We will never let the incident of Arunachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand be repeated in Delhi."