Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has on Wednesday admitted for the first time that the odd-even scheme cannot be a long-term "remedy" to air pollution. Claiming the second phase of the odd-even scheme "very successful", Kejriwal said the government will soon come out with a separate policy for cab and bus aggregators which will enable more taxis and buses on the roads.

"We have to strengthen the public transport system in the coming days and we are working on it. Odd-even cannot be a long-term remedy," the Chief Minister said while addressing a "thanks giving" ceremony to celebrate the success of the second phase of the scheme.

"We have announced a bus aggregator policy. We hope the buses from the private sector will ply on the roads. We are also coming up with a taxi aggregator policy which will enable more taxis on road," Kejriwal said at the event in Chhatrasal stadium.

"Taxi aggregators tried to take advantage of people's misery. They hiked the prices 6-7 times. I called a taxi operator. He said we do it in 400-500 cities across the world. To this, I said you cannot do it in Delhi. You cannot run your writ in Delhi. You have to follow our law. For the first time they had to stop the surge pricing and come down on normal pricing. No government dared to do it. The next day we impounded some 150 cabs," Kejriwal said.

"People of Delhi are not afraid of a fine of Rs. 2000. It is nothing for the people of Delhi. With the challan they could roam the whole day. But they did not do anything like this. People would earlier say that Delhities don't follow the law. I am of an opinion that if the government takes people along, then people of Delhi follow and respect the law more than the Americans," Kejriwal said.

"Some people say pollution has not gone down. Centre for Science and Environment, which is known to be an honest organisation, has said that pollution level has gone down during Odd-Even scheme. Some newspapers wrote that pollution increased during the Odd-Even scheme. (If) petrol usage has gone down by 30 percent then how can pollution increase by 23 percent. I don't understand their logic. There are several reasons for pollution like winds blowing from Haryana. But the basic factor if you use less petrol and diesel, then pollution will go down," Kejriwal said.

By Premji