The flawed odd-even formula of AAP

New Delhi: While a faction of media purportedly backed by the AAP claimed the odd-even formula in the capital to be a huge success, the ground reality was something different.

What the system did was reduce the traffic. But it created a mad rush in the public transports.

Here are five ground realities about the odd-even formula.

Publicity stunt: Who does not like to be in the news? Arvind Kejriwal is no different. He tried to strike an emotional chord with the people of Delhi by bringing the children to the forefront. These children urged the public to follow the rule.

However, students mostly from premier schools were used to spread the awareness. What about the students from schools run by the government? They travel by public buses and faced a lot of problems due to the extra rush. No videos of their reactions were shown in the news channels.

Political agenda: With some top leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party getting involved into corruption, it was obvious that the Delhi government needed something to channelize the people's attention towards another sector.

Implementing the odd-even scheme in winter indicates that it was just to earn a good name and nothing to with curbing the pollution.

People harassment: What the odd-even formula did was to fill the exchequer of the Delhi government. Being the national capital, a lot of vehicles enter the city everyday. Vehicles of other states had to pay fines to enter Delhi if they did not follow the odd-even rules. Moreover, the way the government portrayed those who broke the rules was ridiculous. Those who had to break the odd-even rule to drive the vehicles were made scapegoat criminals.

No proper transport infrastructure: Kejriwal and his ministers did assure that there would be no dearth of public transport during the period. But 'aam aadmi' did suffer. Buses remained overcrowded. It was indeed a surprise that there was no stampede at Rajiv Chowk or Kashmere Gate metro stations.

People did suffer due to mad rush at public transports. Auto-wallahs fleeced the passengers and the government took no action.

Affected livelihood: The odd-even scheme left drivers of travels agencies jobless. They work on a 'no work no pay' basis and with the cars not plying, the drivers had no other sources of livelihood.

Did Mr Kejriwal think of these issues? The countrymen want answers.