No leniency even for cross-border motorists

Unlike the first day of the last odd-even scheme, traffic cops stationed at Seemapuri and Anand Vihar on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border didn’t show any leniency towards the defaulters this time.

They were prosecuted without any inhibition. Around 57 people were challaned in east Delhi till 1 pm, said a senior Traffic police officer.

“Last time, we were lenient as it was the first time people were experiencing the scheme, but now we didn’t give defaulters any benefit of doubt,” said a traffic police officer stationed at Anand Vihar bus terminus.

Due to the efforts of Delhi government this time to raise awareness about the 15-day scheme in all the neighboring states, people from border areas of the capital seemed to be better aware of the rule. However, people coming from far-off areas were still clueless.

“I am coming from Srinagar in Uttarakhand, and was going towards Gurgaon. Today afternoon as I was about to cross the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, a Civil Defence person stopped my car and explained to me about the odd-even rule in the capital. Since my car has an even registration number, they advised me to wait till 8 pm,” said Salil Sanadi.

Despite being aware of the scheme, some motorists got caught when they were tried their luck by crossing over to the Delhi side of the border to fill up their fuel tanks.

“People from areas like Ghaziabad and Noida, who live virtually next door to Delhi, have a habit of filling their vehicle’s fuel tank from Delhi, as the petrol is a lot cheaper here. After being caught, they tried to plead to us to let them go, as according to them they had stepped in the capital’s space just for a few minutes. We, however, didn’t spare them,” said a traffic police officer.

“My father got a chest pain yesterday and we got him admitted at Max hospital in Patparganj. Today when I and my brother were going to meet him, our car was stopped by the traffic police, and then the sub divisional magistrate (SDM) came and took away our registration certificate (RC) as we didn’t have the money,” said Kunal, a resident of Ghaziabad’s Vijay nagar.

“I pleaded with the cops and the SDM to let us go as we were going to see our hospitalised father, but they didn’t relent and asked us to produce proof in the form of hospital documents that our father is indeed hospitalised. I didn’t have any of those so we rushed back to our house to bring the money for the challan in order to take our RC back,” Kunal added.

When Kunal and his brother came back, they didn’t find the SDM or any other official at the spot.