In the wake of Delhi's worsening air quality, the city's Environment Minister, Gopal Rai, convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the Supreme Court's recent observations regarding the effectiveness of the odd-even car rationing scheme. The national capital is grappling with another bout of 'severe' air pollution.
The Supreme Court, in a hearing on Tuesday, described the odd-even scheme as mere "optics" while questioning its historical success in mitigating the city's dangerously high pollution levels. On November 6, the Delhi government had announced its intention to implement the odd-even scheme to combat vehicular emissions.
The court has also asked for a response from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government by Friday, seeking alternative measures to curb vehicular pollution.
Initially, the Delhi government had planned to unveil the specifics of the odd-even scheme, including exemptions and penalties. However, following the Supreme Court's concerns, Minister Rai stated that they would await the court's written orders before making any decisions about the scheme's implementation.
The government had previously announced that the vehicle rationing scheme would be in effect for a week starting on November 13, as a response to the ongoing pollution crisis.
During Tuesday's hearing, a bench of justices, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia, expressed skepticism about the plan, questioning, "Has the odd-even scheme been successful (in the past)? These are all optics." Delhi has seen three prior implementations of the odd-even scheme in 2016, 2017, and 2019.
The court's viewpoint was echoed by amicus curiae Aparajita Singh, who criticized the scheme as unscientific and referred to a top court order from December 2 last year, which directed Delhi and its neighboring states to adopt a color-coding system for vehicles, based on their fuel type, to facilitate identification.
Following the court's directives, Minister Rai stated, "We held a meeting today with officials from the traffic police, transport, and environment departments to discuss how to implement the odd-even scheme. However, we will formulate any further strategies or announcements only after carefully analyzing the Supreme Court's order."
Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot has also instructed the department to ensure that no polluting vehicles enter Delhi from other states, despite the existing ban on non-BS VI vehicles. He expressed concerns about polluting vehicles entering Delhi at odd hours from neighboring states without proper checks.
Meanwhile, the office of Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena alleged that Minister Rai has not officially approved the decision to implement the odd-even scheme. They argued that the announcement made on Monday is an attempt to divert attention from the ongoing pollution crisis.
The Odd-Even Scheme: Introduced by the Arvind Kejriwal-led government in 2016, the odd-even rule allows private vehicles to operate only on alternate days, based on the last digit of their number plate. On even dates, vehicles with license plate numbers ending in even digits are permitted to run, while on odd dates, those with numbers ending in odd digits can be on the road.
According to a notification issued by the Delhi government in 2016, during the scheme's implementation, these restrictions also apply to non-transport four-wheeler vehicles from other states. Violating these restrictions would result in significant fines for the vehicle owners.
The odd-even scheme is traditionally introduced to combat the severe air pollution plaguing the national capital.
Air Quality Plummets Again: The air quality in Delhi and its surrounding areas deteriorated to the "severe" category on Wednesday, with a significant portion of the pollution attributed to post-harvest paddy straw burning in neighboring states.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) in the city reached 421, worsening from 395 on Tuesday at 4 pm. The concentration of PM2.5, a fine particulate matter that poses health risks, exceeded safety limits by a significant margin, making the air quality a grave concern for residents and authorities alike.
