Gasping Capital to ration vehicles

The Delhi government announced the odd-even car rationing scheme on Monday as a desperate measure to curb spiralling pollution levels, with the city’s average air quality index (AQI) remaining in the severe zone for at least four days, even as experts maintained that the measure may be too little, too late and the Opposition slammed the government saying that “things are going out of control”.

- Paras Singh and Jasjeev Gandhiok

The plan, first implemented in Delhi in 2016 and repeated in 2017 and 2019, has been a matter of debate with no comprehensive study backing the step in its efficacy to curb vehicular pollution. The odd-even scheme is part of the restrictions mandated under Grap-4, when the AQI reaches severe+plus levels (above 450).

Announcing that the scheme will begin a day after Diwali — on November 13, till November 20 — Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said data will be reviewed at the end of week, along with pollution levels during the time when the curb will be imposed, to assess the need for continuation of the scheme.

A study by a team of scientists from IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpur, IITM-Pune, CSIR and the TERI in 2016 showed the odd-even scheme had a limited impact of 2-3% on pollution caused by vehicles.