Odd-even plan: An odd start to Delhi's New Year; Kejriwal, his ministers to lead by example

To send a strong message to people, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet ministers will carpool to work and use public transport with the start of the odd-even scheme that will restrict movement of private cars on Delhi's roads for 15 days from Friday.

Kejriwal will share his car with Transport Minister Gopal Rai and PWD Minister Satyendar Jain while Environment Minister Imran Hussain and Social Welfare Minister Sandeep Kumar will take an auto and a bus, respectively, to Delhi Secretariat.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will go to work in an odd-numbered car. Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra will ride a bike to office.

Thousands of civil defence volunteers will be deployed to assist the Traffic Police, enforcement teams of Delhi government's transport department and authorised sub- divisional magistrates, to implement the scheme which will kick in at 8 am.

Under the odd-even initiative, fuel-based private vehicles with odd and even numbers will run on alternate days, even numbered vehicles on even dates and odd numbered on odd dates, on a trial basis for a fortnight beginning January 01, 2016 to battle rising pollution in the city.

The intention is to cut vehicle emissions - arguably one of the largest causes of air pollution in the city - by half.

The government has exempted women, VVIPs, police, paramilitary forces, emergency services like ambulances, fire brigade, gas-run private vehicles etc. A fine of 2,000 rupees will be imposed on offenders.

(With agency inputs)