The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) on Wednesday said if the air quality in Delhi continued to deteriorate, the only option would be to impose a complete ban on the use of non-CNG private vehicles or implement the odd-even scheme.
The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) on Wednesday said if the air quality in Delhi continued to deteriorate, the only option would be to impose a complete ban on the use of non-CNG private vehicles or implement the odd-even scheme.
In a letter to the Central Pollution Control Board and Graded Response Action Plan Task Force, EPCA chairman Bhure Lal also said the odd-even scheme practised in other countries to control pollution was implemented for extended hours and all private vehicles were included.
“The only option is to look at either complete ban on all private vehicles other than CNG or restriction of plying by number plate (odd-even). It should be noted that the odd-even scheme, as practised in other cities for similar pollution abatement, is done for extended hours and includes all private vehicles,” he said.
Officials in the Delhi government have previously said the idea was not viable with the current state of public transport in the capital.
The Delhi government has so far implemented the Odd-Even rationing scheme thrice and apart from VIPs, politicians, Supreme Court judges and defence vehicles, single women drivers and women drivers with children below the age of 12 were exempted from the rule.
On Wednesday, the air quality in Delhi improved to “very poor” following light rainfall the previous night. The air quality in Delhi was recorded in the “severe” category for the past three days. The city recorded its highest pollution level of the year a day after Diwali with an AQI of 642.
In the letter, Lal also flagged that the Supreme Court’s direction for a vehicle sticker scheme was yet to take off. “SC had directed for vehicle sticker scheme that would identify vehicles by fuel type/age. But this scheme hasn’t been implemented by the government,” the EPCA chief wrote in the letter.
In August, the apex court had approved of the government proposal for colour coding of vehicles to check pollution. While petrol and CNG vehicles will have light blue stickers, diesel vehicles will bear orange stickers. The coding is to help authorities identify vehicles running on high-polluting fuel from specified routes on particular days.
In a letter to the Central Pollution Control Board and Graded Response Action Plan Task Force, EPCA chairman Bhure Lal also said the odd-even scheme practised in other countries to control pollution was implemented for extended hours and all private vehicles were included.
“The only option is to look at either complete ban on all private vehicles other than CNG or restriction of plying by number plate (odd-even). It should be noted that the odd-even scheme, as practised in other cities for similar pollution abatement, is done for extended hours and includes all private vehicles,” he said.
Officials in the Delhi government have previously said the idea was not viable with the current state of public transport in the capital.
The Delhi government has so far implemented the Odd-Even rationing scheme thrice and apart from VIPs, politicians, Supreme Court judges and defence vehicles, single women drivers and women drivers with children below the age of 12 were exempted from the rule.
On Wednesday, the air quality in Delhi improved to “very poor” following light rainfall the previous night. The air quality in Delhi was recorded in the “severe” category for the past three days. The city recorded its highest pollution level of the year a day after Diwali with an AQI of 642.
In the letter, Lal also flagged that the Supreme Court’s direction for a vehicle sticker scheme was yet to take off. “SC had directed for vehicle sticker scheme that would identify vehicles by fuel type/age. But this scheme hasn’t been implemented by the government,” the EPCA chief wrote in the letter.
In August, the apex court had approved of the government proposal for colour coding of vehicles to check pollution. While petrol and CNG vehicles will have light blue stickers, diesel vehicles will bear orange stickers. The coding is to help authorities identify vehicles running on high-polluting fuel from specified routes on particular days.