Odd-even a farce, justify it first: NGT to Delhi govt

SC and NGT have suggested 100 measures to curb pollution, but you opt for oddeven. NGT BENCH, headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal said on Friday the oddeven traffic policy was a “farce” and asked the Delhi government to explain how the move would curb pollution, hours after the state signalled its resolve to go ahead with the plan with free bus rides for a week.

The tribunal, India’s top environment court, said it will decide on Saturday whether to allow the curbs that ban private cars from being driven on alternate days based on whether they end in odd or even numbers.

Officials announced the return of odd-even policy from Monday to Friday to effort to reduce the potentially lifethreatening haze that engulfed the National Capital Region for more than three days.

“You are getting the tag of the worst capital in the world. The SC (Supreme Court) and the NGT have suggested 100 measures to curb pollution, but you always opt for odd-even. Nothing has been done by the Delhi government in the past one year,” the bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.

The haze, however, appeared to relent on Friday afternoon and officials said it is likely to improve in coming days. The Air Quality Index fell from 486 on Thursday to 468 on Friday and is likely to show “substantial improvement” on Saturday, since it is calculated as an average of 24 hours.

“The AQI is calculated taking 24-hour data from 4pm of Thursday to Friday 4pm. Thereby the departure is marginal. On Saturday, there should be a substantial improvement in the readings,” Dipankar Saha, head of the Central Pollution Control Board air laboratory, said.