More time needed before reintroducing Odd-Even: Delhi govt
The Delhi government has asked for sufficient time to sensitise people about the Odd-even scheme before reintroducing it. More buses will be needed to improve public transport and volunteers will have to be hired, a government official said. The Supreme Court had earlier ordered the government to automatically enforce the Odd-even formula for private cars as pollution level worsens.
The Delhi government on Tuesday asked for sufficient time to sensitise people about the Odd-even scheme before reintroducing it while proposing a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with the Union government to oversee cleaning of the Yamuna. The issues related to pollution were discussed in the NCR planning board meeting.Odd-even car restrictionsDelhi transport minister Satyendar Jain has urged the central government to allow sufficient time to sensitise the public about implementation of Odd-even scheme before reintroducing it. The Supreme Court had ordered to automatically enforce Odd-even formula for private cars as pollution level dips.Sources in the department said that at least a month of planning is required if the government wants to enforce the scheme. Jain met the Union urban development minister M Venakaiah Naidu during NCR planning board meeting where measures to tackle pollution were discussed.?There will be chaos on the streets if we don?t plan it. As we don?t have enough number of buses, we have to hire buses to improve public transport. Hiring buses will need a month and similarly, we also hire to civil defence volunteers to manage traffic on roads. Doing all this in 48 hours is impossible,? said a transport department official.New roadsJain also pointed out that work on Eastern and Western expressway by the DDA, which has been underway for the last 15 years, needs to be expedited. This project is expected to ease traffic congestion in a major way. The issue of three urban extension roads were also raised, which are located in Mahipalpur, Rohini and Kanjhawala.Read: Need a month to prepare for re-introducing odd-even scheme: Delhi govtNCR board discussed 14 inter-state connectivity links with the aim of facilitating seamless travel in the NCR. Some of these link roads are Kalindi bypass road from Ashram Chowk, Delhi to Faridabad bypass, connection of Nelson Mandela T-Point in Vasant Kunj with the existing Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, road from Ring Road (Inder Lok Metro Station) and existing Yamuna Canal Link Road up to Haryana border and bridge over Yamuna between Chhaprauli and Hathwada village in Haryana. Delhi government bats for SPV for YamunaJain proposed setting-up of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with the Union government to oversee cleaning of the Yamuna and Yamuna Development Front activities. ?We have proposed setting up of a special purpose vehicle, along the lines of Delhi Metro, to help in cleaning Yamuna. The Delhi government and the Centre can be the key stakeholders in the project,? said Jain. Shifting of power plantsThe AAP government also presented recommendations by IIT Kanpur on the rising pollution level. ?As a part of pollution control measures, IIT-Kanpur has recommended that the power plants within 300km vicinity of the Capital should be shut down. We have requested them to shift power plant from Jhajjhar and Dadri,? Jain said.Contain air pollution in Delhi-NCR: Board tells statesThe states have given details of measures being taken to contain air pollution being caused by stubble and biomass burning in the adjoining states of Delhi and Punjab, burning of garbage, solid waste management and road dust and construction activities. The measures include supply of equipment for mechanical disposal of stubble and crop residues, imposition of fines for burning, management of sanitary landfills and so on.In the meeting, the Central Pollution Control Board informed that an action plan has been prepared under the directions of the Supreme Court in the context of high levels of air pollution in Delhi in November this year. This plan includes monitoring air quality in Delhi, centralised analysis of pollution data being collected by different agencies, preventive actions and graded action plan.