Delhi Smog: Odd-Even Returns From Monday, Women And Bikers Exempt
Stubble burning is the visible villain in it, but there are other elephants in the room, says Delhi High Court.
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The odd-even car rationing scheme will be rolled out in Delhi for five days from November 13 as part of a graded response plan to tackle the alarming pollution situation in the city, the state government announced today.
The scheme will be in place from 8 am to 8 pm and there will exemptions for women drivers and two-wheelers, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said. “The exemptions will be similar as last year and there is no need for people to panic.”
The minister also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call a meeting of chief ministers of Delhi and adjoining states to find a solution to the crisis.
The Delhi government has directed DTC to hire 500 buses from private contractors to tackle the rush of commuters during the odd-even implementation week.
Delhi Metro has also promised to provide 100 small buses during the period. Schools will be free to provide their buses voluntarily. However, there will be no compulsion.Kailash Gahlot, Delhi Transport Minister
CNG vehicles will be exempt but will need to have stickers in place. These will be available at 22 IGL stations across Delhi from 2 pm tomorrow. “The old stickers which were issued in the last edition of odd-even will be valid too,” the minister said.
Under the policy, private vehicles are allowed to run based on the last number of their licence plates. Odd-numbered cars are allowed to run on odd dates while even-numbered cars can only run on even dates.
In 2016, the scheme was enforced twice – January 1-15 and April 15-30.
NGT Bans Construction, Waste Burning Till Nov. 14
Meanwhile, the National Green Tribunal issued a slew of directions to deal with the situation, including banning construction and industrial activities and entry of trucks, while lambasting the Delhi government and civic bodies over the worsening air quality in Delhi and neighbouring states.
“No construction activity will be carried out on structures until further orders... all industrial activities in Delhi-NCR which are causing emissions will also not be allowed to carry on their functioning” till November 14, a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.
An irked green panel also imposed a ban on the entry of diesel trucks more than ten years old and said that no vehicle from outside or within Delhi will be permitted to transport any construction material.
High Court Issues Emergency Directives
The Delhi High Court has, meanwhile, issued a slew of directions to improve air quality, including watering of the roads to minimise dust.
Calling it an “emergency situation”, a bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sanjeev Sachdeva asked the government to consider the option of “cloud seeding” to induce rainfall artificially, as an immediate step to bring down the dust and particulate matter in the atmosphere.
It directed the Delhi government to seriously consider a ban on further construction in the city to the extent possible and implementing the ‘odd-even’ vehicle usage scheme as a short term measure.
What we are facing today has already been faced by London. They call it a pea soup fog. It is a killer. Stubble burning is the visible villain in it, but there are other elephants in the room.High Court Bench
It said the fog here was a “deadly mixture of vehicular pollution, construction and road dust and stubble burning.” Pea soup, or a pea souper, also called black fog, killer fog or smog is a very thick and often yellowish, greenish or blackish fog caused by air pollution that contains soot particulates and the poisonous gas sulphur dioxide. Such a fog had engulfed London in 1952.
Directions were also issued by the bench to the Delhi Traffic Police to ensure there is no vehicular congestion on the roads and provide masks to the personnel on duty.
The bench also ordered the Union Environment Secretary to hold a meeting in the next three days of the chief secretaries of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to work out a joint short-term plan to bring down air pollution.
The bench issued the directions, after senior advocate and amicus curiae Kailash Vasdev told the court that emergent steps were required to improve the air quality in the city.
The court also took on record the steps proposed to be taken by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee after a meeting held with the Lieutenant Governor yesterday.
The proposed steps include quadrupling of parking fees in the city, ban on entry of trucks except those carrying essential commodities, prohibition on construction activities, increasing the services of Metro and DTC, cleaning of roads, banning brick-kilns and stopping of use of fire-wood and coal in hotels, DPCC's lawyer Sanjeev Ralli told the court.
The bench, however, did not agree with the quadrupling of the parking fees.
The court was hearing a PIL initiated by it to curb air pollution in the national capital. It has been issuing directions time-to-time in this regard.
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