A day after announcing to implement Odd-Even formula for vehicles in the city from November 13, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said the government will first study the Supreme Court order and then go for the odd-even rule, after the Apex Court on Tuesday rapped government for the pollution situation in the National Capital and asked whether the odd-even scheme to ration the number of cars plying on the roads has ever been successful. "It's all optics," the Supreme Court observed a day after the Delhi government announced that the odd-even scheme would be back from November 13 to November 20.
Rai said he held a meeting with senior officers of the transport and environment departments and the traffic police to discuss the modalities of the odd-even scheme. "But meanwhile we came across some observations made by the Supreme Court. So now instead of announcing the odd-even rules, we will go through the order/observations of the Supreme Court. After studying them, we will incorporate them into the scheme," Rai said.
Amid worsening air quality in the national capital, the minister on Monday announced that the odd-even scheme will be enforced in the city from November 13 to 20.
Rai said there are "very few" incidents of stubble burning in Delhi and the government has arranged free sprinkling of bio decomposers to keep it in check. The minister said the air pollution crisis needs to be tackled through the efforts and cooperation of all the concerned states.
The city government announced odd-even formula soon after the fourth and final stage of GRAP was announced on Sunday considering the air quality of the capital in the ‘severe plus’ category.
The Delhi government has decided to implement the Odd-Even scheme in Delhi from November 13 to 20. On Odd days, only vehicles with license plates ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 will be allowed to operate, and on Even days, vehicles ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 will be allowed.
Delhi has been battling deteriorating air quality for the past five days with physical classes of schools being shut until November 10. Non-essential construction work and an embargo on certain vehicles have been imposed as the qir quality hovered around the severe category.
