Commissioner

Thara

Deputy Municipal Commissioner

Siddharth Khatri

A day after Gurgaon observed the ‘No Car’ day, Ahmedabad Municipaldecided to replicate the idea in the city. If all goes as per Thara’s expectations, the city may see its first ‘No Car’ day this winter. Initially, the day will be observed on a Sunday and extended to weekdays depending on the response from Amdavadis. A no-car day would require people to use rickshaws and public transport from 8 am to 6 pm.‘WE WANT TO START A DEBATE’Thara said: “We want to start a debate on the growing number of cars in the city. There will be a time when we will have to think of a life without cars. Sometime later in life we may have to shift to public transport. That is the reason we are planning a ‘No Car’ day. We want the issue to be discussed in homes. The day will be observed in coordination with the city police.”WILL BE EXTENDED TO WEEKDAYSShe said it would be best to start observing the day at the onset of winter. “I think it is best to start in winter. We may first observe the day on a Sunday and gradually shift to weekdays after looking at the experience and response,” Thara said. The city has 5.32 lakh cars and 30,812 jeeps (figures till July 2015) and every year, nearly 50,000 cars are added to the city’s roads. Thara added, “New cars get added to the roads every day, but new roads do not get added to the city daily. I want people to understand that you do not need to take your cars out to travel 200m. A no-car day will make them realise that. People use the car every day for three hours and then go to the gym to burn fat. A conversation on this issue is important.”REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS(North Zone), who has in the past served as DCP (Traffic), said: “The basic idea is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. People will come out on their bicycles on this day and use mass transport. Besides, another important message that goes to people is maintain your health, forego your cars for a day.”WHAT TO EXPECT» Privately-owned and government cars will be off the roads from 8 am to 6 pm» Two-wheelers, rickshaws, public transport and emergency vehicles may be allowed» Either the entire city or certain stretches will be identified for the day» Frequency of public transport vehicles may be increased for the day