Delhi air pollution: Odd-even scheme back from Monday, minister assures there’ll be no Ola-Uber surge pricing

Transport minister Kailash Gehlot said on Thursday the odd-even scheme will be enforced in Delhi for a period of five days from November 13 as part of the government’s response to tackle the deteriorating air quality in the national capital. Gehlot requested the people of Delhi and all agencies to cooperate with the government as he assured them there will be no surge pricing by cab hailing companies such as Ola and Uber during the five days. He added ministers will also have to abide by the scheme. The minister said exemptions during the road rationing system in which odd and even numbered vehicles ply on alternate days will remain the same as the last two phases. Delhi has seen two phases of the scheme being implemented. The first phase lasted a fortnight starting January 1, 2016, and the second time was four months later from April 15 to 30. During both times, restrictions were in place from 8am to 8pm. The vehicles that were exempted from following the scheme included those running on compressed-natural-gas (CNG), electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, women-only vehicles and those carrying children up to 12 years as well as those transporting children in school uniform. “IGL (Indraprastha Gas Limited) stickers for cars will be available from tomorrow at 22 CNG stations across Delhi. Extra buses are also being arranged. But we will not requisition them for school buses,” Gehlot said. The road rationing scheme is a part of the Graded Response Action Plan designed by the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) to combat pollution at different levels. GRAP was enforced in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) on October 17. The decision comes a day after a task force of the Central Pollution Control Board suggested to the EPCA that current conditions call for GRAP measures listed for emergency situations. Later, Delhi L-G Anil Baijal, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and EPCA members discussed the matter in a meeting on Wednesday evening. The opposition BJP was quick to attack the Aam Aadmi Party government over the scheme and said the odd-even scheme cannot be a solution to Delhi’s high level of pollution. “The odd-even formula can be a formula for traffic maintenance and management but not a formula to stop pollution,” Meenakshi Lekhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s New Delhi MP, told reporters. Lekhi said air pollution in Delhi is primarily on account of dust particles, construction activities and debris and added that the menace was not because of vehicular emission. She questioned the ruling dispensation on the steps taken to contain construction dust and debris as she pitched for augmenting public transport, proper waste management and containing encroachments to tackle the problem. While the government had declared both phases of the odd-even successful, a report submitted by a panel, appointed by Kejriwal’s government, suggested otherwise. The panel had said the second round fell way short of expectations. The reason, the report said, was that there were an additional 4 lakh cars and 1.3 lakh two-wheelers on the roads in the second round as compared to the first edition. One of the reasons for this was that the first edition was enforced when schools were shut for winter vacations, and the second was enforced in the peak traffic season from April 15 to 30, 2016.