Recently, to improve the toxic air quality of the city a tough decision was taken by Delhi AAP.
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Hinting at the possibility of the plan not being implemented, the Delhi Chief Minister said, “Many things have to be sorted out”.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday said that the government would discontinue the move after 10 to 15 days if people faced problems. “If there are too many problems, it will be stopped”, Kejriwal said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here.
He said before taking the drastic step the city government wanted to strengthen public transport, but had to resort to it following the panic triggered by increasing pollution in the capital.
Both Congress and BJP had earlier relented Delhi government’s odd-even auto number formula and said that it was an impractical idea for controlling pollution in the city.
In response to a specific query as to how the Chief Justice of India will follow it, Justice Thakur also said he could share the vehicle with his next door neighbour judge Justice A.K. Sikri.
“What rubbish! Does the government even understand why most of the people use private vehicles?”
There are already more than 8.5 million vehicles on Delhi’s roads and 1,400 new cars being added every day, contributing to some of the worst pollution in the world. This emergency situation has come now, I think for its cooling down, if not anything else, at least for a few days cars will have to be removed from the streets.
In October, the National Green Tribunal announced an “Environment Tax” or “Green Tax” on commercial vehicles entering the city.
The temporary measures are seen as a desperate attempt to cut down alarming pollution levels during the winter months as cooler air and clouds trap pollutants creating a smoggy layer over the city. “We will do as the people say”, he said.
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India has said poor countries can not be expected to make the shift away from cheap and abundant fossil fuels at the expense of struggling populations, many of whom do not even have access to electricity. “This may sabotage the government move if not implemented effectively”, said SP Singh, convener of Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training. The government was also mulling to allow movement of trucks only after 11 pm as they slow down overall vehicular movement which was pointed out to be a major contributing factor to pollution from vehicular emission.
