New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Vijay Goel violated Monday the odd-even rationing scheme by driving an SUV with an odd last digit in its registration number and labelled the initiative to curb air pollution in Delhi ‘an election stunt’ by the Kejriwal government. Vijay Goel, however, described his step as a ‘symbolic protest’ against the scheme. He was fined Rs 4,000 by the police for breaking the law.
Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said it was ‘unfortunate’ that Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were sending a message to people to not follow Delhi government’s efforts to curb air pollution when whole city was cooperating.
Violating the odd-even rule is punishable with a fine of Rs 4,000. The fine was Rs 2,000 in earlier two editions of the initiative in 2016. According to the scheme, non-transport vehicles having odd or even last digit of registration number are allowed to run on odd and even dates, respectively.
Goel’s car bore slogans that read ‘pradushan ki zimmedar Kejriwal sarkar, odd-even hai bekar’ (Kejriwal government responsible for pollution, odd-even ineffective) and called the initiative a drama.
“I am doing this as a symbolic protest against the Kejriwal government’s failure to do anything in five years to curb pollution in Delhi. It is now staging a drama and election stunt in view of the coming Assembly polls through odd-even scheme,” the BJP Rajya Sabha MP told reporters at his residence.
BJP vice president Shyam Jaju and other party leaders also accompanied Goel in the SUV which he drove from his residence on Ashoka Road, before being stopped near Janpath by traffic police personnel who handed him the challan.
Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot later met Goel with a bouquet of flowers, urging him to not violate the rule as it was aimed at bringing the toxic air pollution down.
PTI