Odd-even scheme may be back in Delhi

The Delhi government may bring back the odd- even scheme to restrict the number of vehicles on the road in view of the increase in pollution levels, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot has said.

The minister on Wednesday wrote to Delhi Transport Corporation, which operates the city’s bus fleet, and senior officials of his ministry, asking them to be “fully geared up” for implementation of odd-even “as and when” it is announced.

“With the increase in pollution levels, the government may have to resort to emergency measures, including the odd- even scheme,” he said.

The scheme, based on the last digit of the registration number of vehicles, was implemented twice in 2016 — from January 1-15 and April 1530. Under the scheme, odd and even numbered vehicles ply on alternate days.

It can be implemented when air pollution levels are in the ‘emergency’ category for 48 hours or more.

Last week, the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority, a body empowered to enforce the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), had said it would not hesitate to enforce ‘oddeven’, order cars off roads, and shut schools if needed.

The GRAP was notified by the Centre in January this year, following an order by the apex court in November 2016.

According to Gahlot, procurement of additional buses by DTC would be the “main component” of readiness if odd-even was implemented. A major challenge in implementing the scheme is poor public transport facilities, despite a developed Delhi metro rail network.

DTC has around 4,000 buses, while the Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System runs other 1,600 buses under cluster scheme. Experts estimate that the city needs about 11,000 buses to cover all areas.