Govt to gather opinion on odd-even scheme's 2nd phase by IVR

Delhi government has decided to gather public opinion on the proposed second phase of the odd- even car-rationing scheme by directly reaching out to at least 10 lakh residents through "automated calls", supplementing a phone line and email address that are already in force.
The move came a day before 'Jan Sabhas', organised by ruling AAP MLAs, are to begin across the city, which will be held for the next two days seeking people's suggestions on the implementation of second phase of the scheme.
Starting today, the calls are being made through Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology, used by telecom companies among others, and are giving people a number of options on the proposed measure to choose from.

The government has already opened a dedicated phone line, a website, put up online forms and launched an email address on a six-point questionnaire on the car-rationing measures.
"Over 10,000 online forms have been downloaded in less than a week, more than 8,500 email responses have been submiited and around 45,000 calls made," a government official said.
The official refused to elaborate whether majority of the responses are in favour of its re-implementation or against, saying a clear trend was yet to emerge.
The first phase of the pilot plan was rolled out on January 1 and it stayed in force for 15 days.

The government is likely to implement the next phase of odd-even scheme after March as it seeks to first address two major concerns related to commuting by school children and the possibility of people going for another car to circumvent the restrictions.