Delhi govt to press for oddeven as air quality gets worse

RESPITE OVER Suffocating Sunday after twoday reprieve

NEWDELHI: The Delhi government on Monday will make a fresh push for odd-even road rationing, asking to National Green Tribunal to exempt two-wheelers and cars driven by women from the plan, even as the pollution in the city worsened on Sunday after a small respite over the previous two days.

Delhi’s average air quality index (AQI) was 460 on Sunday, rising close to the November 9 season-high of 486. This was because of a fall in temperature, increased cloud cover, lower wind speed at the ground level, and winds at higher altitudes carrying pollutants from Punjab and Haryana, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.

The AQI had improved to 403 on Saturday, when the wind speed at lower altitudes had picked up. For the last six days, the air quality has remained in the “severe” zone across the National Capital Region, prompting to the Indian Medical Association to declare a health emergency.

The figure in other NCR cities, too, was alarmingly high on Sunday — 468 in Faridabad, 498 in Ghaziabad, 460 in Gurgaon and 492 in Noida. Most schools in Delhi are set to reopen on Monday after being shut for four days due to the pollution, but schools in Gurgaon will remain closed. Though there could be some respite on Tuesday, light rain on Wednesday may make the air quality even worse, warned Dipankar Saha, head of the air lab at the CPCB.

A new pollution-fighting mechanism, the Graded Response Action Plan, is in place in the city. Several steps have been announced — ban on construction activities, hike in parking fees and ban on diesel gensets — but ground reports show that the Delhi government and local civic bodies have been sluggish on implementation.

On Saturday, the NGT gave its nod to the odd-even scheme. However, it rejected on the government’s plan to let two-wheelers and vehicles driven by women stay on the roads.