Delhi’s odd-even formula makes Maharashtra dust off 15-yr-old report

Accordingly, the Mumbai Transformation Support Unit, the government’s think-tank for Mumbai, has been asked to submit a report on the feasibility within two months. Additional Chief Secretary (Transport) Gautam Chatterjee confirmed the development.

In 2000, a committee headed by former transport secretary V M Lal had observed that “pollution levels in Mumbai had reached an unprecedented level”, and had made 101 recommendations on measures to overcome this. One of the principal recommendations was to put in place a traffic-restraint scheme for private vehicles in the island city of Mumbai.

The Lal panel, which was constituted following Bombay High Court directives, had said private cars should be rationed during peak hours on weekdays for roads in the island city on an experimental basis for six months.

The formula it suggested was that cars with registration numbers ending 1 or 2 be disallowed to ply on these roads between 9 am and 4 pm on Mondays. Then it would be the turn of cars with registration numbers ending 3 or 4 to stay off roads on Tuesdays, and so on.

The report had claimed that this would reduce car traffic by 20 per cent daily.

“We have asked MTSU to peruse the panel’s recommendations and submit a report to us within two months. The MTSU has basically been asked to suggest measures to control congestion, beef up public transport, and regulate traffic in Mumbai in a more effective manner,” said Chatterjee.

Besides the traffic restraint scheme, the 2000 panel had also recommended measures to reduce sulphur and benzene content in diesel and petrol, a policy to phase out public and private vehicles, and ensure decrease in permissible pollutant levels.

Chatterjee said the MTSU would also examine another report — the P S Pasricha committee report — on better traffic regulation in Mumbai. Sources said at Monday’s meeting, it was also decided to examine whether a new policy should be formulated for regulation of parking. “It was also decided to consider dedicated bus lanes and taxi sharing solutions,” said a senior official.

Following Delhi’s experiment, the Nationalist Congress Party had first raised the demand for examining a similar system for Mumbai. Opinion among functionaries in the Maharashtra government remains divided on whether it is feasible.