With overnight rain drastically improving the city’s air quality, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Friday said the government has decided not to implement the odd-even vehicle rationing scheme after Deepavali, as announced on November 6.
The Capital has been breathing hazardous air for the past week. On November 5, the Delhi government ordered the closure of all primary schools and restricted the entry of trucks after the concentration of poisonous pollutant PM2.5 in the city was recorded at over 20 times the limit prescribed by the World Health Organization.
A day later, Mr. Rai said the government would implement the odd-even vehicle-rationing scheme in the city for a week starting from November 13.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court questioned the effectiveness of the scheme aimed at curbing vehicular pollution and referred to it as “all optics”.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, the Environment Minister said, “For the last 8-10 days, due to the stagnant air and decreasing temperature, pollution levels reached the ‘severe plus’ category. But the downpour since last night has resulted in higher wind speeds and continuous improvement in the air quality.”
“Considering this, the government has decided to delay the implementation of the odd-even scheme,” Mr. Rai said.
Under the odd-even vehicle-rationing scheme, vehicles with registration numbers ending with even digits are allowed to run on even dates and those with odd numbers are allowed to run on odd dates.
The Minister said the government will study the air pollution metrics after Deepavali, based on which it will decide how to go forward with the odd-even policy.
Mr. Rai also said that he had found polluting trucks and diesel buses from other States plying in the city. “In this regard, today I wrote to the Transport Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, requesting them to deploy additional teams that would redirect these vehicles to the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways,” he said.
Meanwhile, Delhi University has announced a winter break from November 13-19 due to air pollution.
“In order to tide over the prevailing environmental pollution caused by the ‘severe’ category air quality and the implementation of GRAP-IV measures in Delhi, it has been decided to declare 13.11.2023 to 19.11.2023 as winter break for the university and its colleges,” a notice dated November 9 read. However, all the examinations and interviews will be held without any change in schedule, it added.
Bad air may return
The Capital’s air quality, recorded in the ‘severe’ category on Thursday, improved to ‘poor’ after the early morning rain on Friday. However, the air is expected to worsen after Deepavali on Monday, according to official data.
An AQI reading between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, 401 and 450 ‘severe’, and 451 and 500 ‘severe plus’.