Odd-even in place in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal carpools to office

Transport minister Kailash Gahlot carpooled with his officer on special duty while deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia cycled to work.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal carpooled with his cabinet ministers to work on Monday as the 11-day odd-even scheme or road rationing began in Delhi on Monday as part of efforts to check the rising air pollution that reached its worst levels since 2016 in the capital on Sunday.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal carpools with AAP leader Gopal Rai and Health Minister Satyendar Jain from his home to Delhi Secretariat (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

Delhi government officials said that Kejriwal and his colleagues, Gopal Rai and Satyendar Jain, left the chief minister’s residence on Flagstaff Road in Civil Lines around 10:30 am for the state secretariat. Transport minister Kailash Gahlot carpooled with his officer on special duty while deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia cycled to work.

Delhi ministers and officers are required to follow the rules of the scheme even as vehicles of the president, vice-president, prime minister, governors, chief justice of India, Lok Sabha speaker, Union ministers are exempt from the road rationing drive.

Also Watch: Vijay Goel violates odd-even, Sisodia says pollution not BJP’S priority

“We are fully prepared. Till now, we have registered around 850 [new] buses. We hope we will register around 2,000 buses in the next two days. Action will be taken against cab aggregators if they implement surge pricing,” Gahlot said, referring to the pricing strategy wherein cab aggregators set flexible fares based on prevailing market demands.

Kejriwal on Sunday urged people to follow road rationing measures. “I urge people to use carpooling when they are not able to drive their car during this scheme. I will also be following the scheme strictly,” he said.

The Delhi government on Friday declared a public health emergency and closed schools and all construction activities to deal with the pollution.

Under the third road rationing measures in Delhi since 2016, private cars with odd-numbered registration plates will be allowed to run on odd dates from 8 am to 8 pm, barring Sundays. Those with even-numbered plates will ply on even dates. The drive exempts two-wheelers and cars driven by women or carrying only women, schoolchildren and electric vehicles. All private petrol, diesel, and CNG cars in Delhi and the ones entering the city with registration numbers of other states will have to follow the rules. Any violation of the scheme will lead to a fine of Rs 4,000.

The road rationing drive will continue until November 15, the period that is vulnerable to pollution spikes since this is the time when farm fires in Punjab and Haryana peak. The resulting smoke settles over the National Capital Region and adjoining regions. Farmers often burn stubble left behind after the harvest as a quick and cheap way of clearing their fields for the next round of sowing.

According to the Union environment ministry’s System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research, satellites captured over 3,000 incidents of farm fires last week in Punjab and Haryana. They contributed to 46% of Delhi’s pollution on Friday last, the season’s highest.

Delhi has been in the grips of a bad air crisis since Diwali. According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s 4 pm bulletin on Sunday, the average air quality index (AQI) for the preceding 24 hours sharply rose from 399 to 494. This was the worst level recorded since November 6, 2016, when it was 497.

Farm fires and emissions from firecrackers result in heavy concentrations of PM2.5 ultrafine particles in the air, which can lead to major health problems since they can enter the bloodstream after penetrating deep into the lungs.

Air quality is considered good when the AQI is below 50 and satisfactory under 100. The concentration of PM2.5 pollutants – one of the most harmful aerosols – peaked at 992 µg/m3 in the Alipur monitoring station, over 16 times the level considered safe on Sunday.

.