Delhi govt’s 'Red light on, Gaadi off' campaign to be postponed: Gopal Rai

"The 'Red light on, Gaadi off' campaign has been successful in previous years. The month-long campaign was set to be launched tomorrow for this year but no approval has been received so far. The file was sent to LG (Lieutenant Governor) on October 21," Rai told reporters.

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said the 'Red light on, Gaadi off' campaign to cut down vehicular pollution in the national capital had to be postponed as no approval was received from Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena in this regard.

File photo of Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai. (ANI)

"The 'Red light on, Gaadi off' campaign has been successful in previous years. The month-long campaign was set to be launched tomorrow for this year but no approval has been received so far. The file was sent to LG on October 21," Rai told reporters.

The campaign was launched by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government in October 2020, as part of which public representatives and officials urged commuters to turn their vehicles off while waiting at traffic signals.

This year, the campaign was set to be launched on Friday and the first phase was scheduled to go on for a month till November 28.

On October 21, Rai said that 2,500 civil defence workers would be deployed to run the campaign, adding the drive will be active for 10 hours a day - the first shift from 8am-2pm and the second shift from 2pm-8pm.

“Moreover, traffic Police will run this campaign by focusing on 10 major four-ways of Delhi which face high traffic. Instead of 10, 20 civil defence volunteers will be deployed in each shift in such four ways. These civil defence volunteers will raise awareness in people through placards, and banners,” Rai said during a press conference.

The air quality in Delhi has deteriorated in recent days following the bursting of crackers on the occasion of Diwali. However, Delhi reported the best post-Diwali air quality since 2015.

On Thursday, the air quality plunged to the very poor category because of calm winds and cool weather conditions. At 8.10am, the air quality index (AQI) stood at 333, compared to 262 on Wednesday morning. On Monday, Diwali, the AQI was at 312 at 4pm.

(With agency inputs)