In the wake of the Delhi High court making a scathing observation that living in Delhi is like “living in a gas chamber” because of the “alarming” increase of pollution levels, the state government has proposed the Beijing model of ‘odd/even’ number formula for private cars. In Bejing, this model has resulted in 40% reduction in the air pollution.
The High Court had directed the Centre and city government to present comprehensive action plans to combat pollution. According to this formula, private vehicles with odd and and even numbers will be allowed on roads on alternative days.
The formula, which is likely to be implemented from January 2016, will not be applicable to public vehicles. With this move, the government hopes that the vehicular pollution would be cut down drastically.
The court also said two major causes of air pollution in Delhi were dust particles and vehicular emissions and directed the Centre and city governments to ensure no construction of building or roads takes place without first ensuring that generation of dust was minimised.
It had directed the Delhi government to ensure that garbage and leaves are not burned by people in the open, as was directed by the National Green Tribunal, and directed the city administration to publicise in print, audio and visual media that such practices are prohibited.
The court directed the city government to seek action taken reports from sub-divisional magistrates and tehsildars who have been tasked with carrying out surprise inspections with regard to dust generation from construction sites and burning of leaves and garbage.
On emissions from idling vehicles and traffic congestion, police told the court it has identified 14 areas which were seriously congested and decongested them significantly by deploying more personnel and putting up plastic bollards to segregate carriageways and regulate flow of traffic.
With regard to yellow line violations, the court directed traffic police to ensure there was zero tolerance for such incidents and to ensure proper lane driving in Delhi.
“Publicise there would be strict action and fines for violations,” it said while hearing a PIL initiated by it on the issue of increasing air pollution in Delhi.
News Source: The Week
