Arvind Kejriwal on odd-even: No need to reintroduce the scheme as Delhi’s air clears up

Delhi chief
minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said there was no need to reintroduce the
odd-even road rationing scheme in the national capital as the pollution levels
have gone down.

Kejriwal
said , “The sky is clear now, so there is no need of it”. The third edition of the
odd-even scheme was implemented between November 4 and 15.

Last week,
Kejriwal had put off a decision on extending the scheme for Monday saying that
the air quality was likely to improve.

The air
quality was in the ‘poor’ category in Delhi on Monday. According to data
provided by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Air Quality Index
(AQI) recorded at 8am was 222.

This is a
marked improvement from last week when pollution had spiked and the air quality
dropped to ‘emergency’ levels.

 Schools were closed for two days across
Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) as a thick blanket of toxic smog covered
the city.

Kejriwal’s
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was pulled up by the Supreme Court last week
over efforts to combat pollution and has been asked to produce pollution data
to back up the logic behind the odd-even scheme.

After the
court’s observations, Kejriwal had admitted that odd-even would have a limited
impact on Delhi’s pollution levels and said that the major source was stubble
burning.

The top
court has also asked for the answers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on
stubble burning.

The odd-even
scheme prohibits plying of private vehicles based on the last digit of their
vehicle registration numbers. Vehicles with odd digits are allowed on odd dates
and even numbered ones ply on even days.