Oddeven: Arvind Kejriwal Thanks Chief Justice For Car-Pooling
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today thanked Chief Justice TS Thakur for voluntarily joining the Delhi government’s odd-even pilot project to counter pollution.
The Chief Justice is among the VIPs who have been exempted from the odd-even project, under which private vehicles with odd numbers are allowed to ply on odd dates and vice versa.
On Tuesday, following a news report in The Indian Express on how the Chief Justice is car pooling with Justice AK Sikri, who lives close by, the Chief Minister tweeted:-
Mr Kejriwal’s deputy, Manish Sisodia, too, hailed Justice Thakur’s gesture rejecting the entrenched VIP culture of Delhi.
The government’s novel scheme to curb pollution in Delhi, tagged the world’s most polluted city, had followed the top court’s strictures on the subject.
After the scheme was announced, Justice Thakur had expressed his approval and said he would not mind taking a bus to work or even walking down from his Motilal Nehru Marg residence.
“If a judge of Supreme Court can pool cars (with other judges), it sends a message to the people that we have no problem… We can walk down or even take a bus,” he had told NDTV at the time.
Chief Minister Kejriwal has been an advocate of carpooling. He has told NDTV that it is the most “practical” thing to do under the circumstances. But his long list of exemptions – including single women drivers and VIPs – had drawn criticisms of diluting the project.
Since the pilot started, the Chief Minister has shared vehicle with several of his colleagues. Other ministers have taken to public transport. Transport minister Gopal Rai has been seen taking a bus and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had used a cycle to reach the secretariat from his Patparganj home.
