The Supreme Court said that Delhi’s Odd-Even scheme is just for show and doesn’t have much effect. Delhi’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai mentioned that the government will carefully examine the Supreme Court’s decision before implementing the plan.
1 min read 11/08/2023, 07:00 PM IST
The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, said that the Delhi government’s Odd-Even scheme to reduce air pollution is not effective and is just for show. Delhi’s Environment Minister, Gopal Rai, said that the government will plan the Odd-Even scheme again after reviewing the Supreme Court’s decision.
Rai said that after looking at the Supreme Court’s decision, we will make careful plans for the Odd-Even scheme, and then we will let the public know. We will include the instructions given by the Supreme Court in our careful planning. This was said a few days after Rai had first announced that the Odd-Even vehicle system would be enforced from November 13th to 20th for one week, and it could be extended depending on the circumstances.
When the Supreme Court made their remarks, Delhi’s air quality was labeled “very poor” with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 356. It became really bad in the past few days, with an Air Quality Index above 400. During the hearing, the Supreme Court had concerns about whether the Odd-Even scheme is actually effective in reducing air pollution or if it’s just for show and doesn’t bring significant results.
The Supreme Court spoke about air pollution during a hearing about it in the capital city. The court said it is important to solve the problem of stubble burning by farmers in Punjab, Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh. This problem causes a lot of air pollution in the northern region, including Delhi. The highest court said it’s important to stop this practice right away. They also said that it’s the job of the authorities to find solutions that work.
The Odd-Even scheme is a system in Delhi that limits when people can drive their cars based on the last digit of their license plate number. It was started in 2016. In this plan, cars with license plates that end in even numbers (0, 2, 4, 6, 8) can be driven on even dates, and cars with license plates that end in odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) can be driven on odd dates. Some vehicles are allowed to break the rules. These exceptions usually include emergency and police vehicles, motorcycles, cars driven by women, and vehicles that carry school children and important people.
A study in 2018 by The Energy and Resources Institute found that cars and other vehicles caused about 40% of the PM 2. 5 pollution in the capital city.