Gadkari says no need for odd-even scheme in Delhi
Nagpur: Hours after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said the odd-even road rationing scheme will be implemented in the national capital from November 4 to 15, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said the move was not required.
Under the scheme, odd and even numbered vehicles ply on alternate days.
While Kejriwal said the move was aimed at combating high levels of air pollution in winters when crop burning takes place in neighbouring states, Gadkari claimed works underway in Delhi would ensure it is pollution-free in the next two years.
Union minister for road transport and highways Gadkari was speaking to reporters after inaugurating a CNG outlet in Nagpur.
"Now there is no such need (odd-even scheme) because the new ring road we have built is helping reduce pollution in Delhi to a certain extent. Besides, my ministry is pursuing road works of about Rs 50,000 crore. Cleaning of Yamuna and other works to curb pollution are also underway," he said.
"I think Delhi will be pollution free in two years time," he asserted.
Speaking at the function, Gadkari emphasised the use of CNG for public transport, and said Nagpur would get several electric buses soon.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
