As air pollution in Delhi touched about 18 times the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) limit on Monday, Environment Minister Gopal Rai announced that the Delhi government would implement an odd-even vehicle rationing scheme in the city from November 13 to 20 to reduce air pollution.
Mr. Rai said that to prioritise the health of schoolchildren, the government had decided to suspend in-person classes in all schools, except for students of grades X and XII preparing for board exams. “Schools in Delhi up to the 5th grade were initially closed till November 10, and now, classes for students in 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th grades will also remain closed till November 10. However, online classes can continue. There is no bar on board exams for the 10th and 12th grades,” he said.
The Minister said odd-even would be implemented anticipating a spike in air pollution after Deepavali. After studying the situation following the implementation, a decision would be taken on future actions, he added.
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The decisions were taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on air pollution earlier in the day.
The odd-even scheme entails allowing vehicles whose registration number ends in even digits to ply on even dates and those with odd last digits to ply only on odd dates. On odd days, only vehicles with licence plates ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 will be allowed, while on even days, vehicles ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 will be allowed to operate.
On Sunday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) directed that State governments may consider additional emergency measures such as an odd-even scheme.
Criticising the move, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva claimed that the odd-even scheme has no scientific research basis or data to support its effectiveness. He said that by bringing the odd-even scheme, the Kejriwal government was punishing Delhiites for its own failure to curb pollution causes such as crop residue burning and clearing dust and CD waste from roadside.
Air pollution spikes in Delhi and many other parts of north India during every winter, mainly due to meteorological factors and pollution from stubble burning adds to it.
‘Severe’ category
Meanwhile, air pollution in Delhi continued to be in the “severe” category on Monday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. Air pollution of “severe” level “affects healthy people” and “seriously impacts those with existing diseases”, according to the CPCB.
Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was 421 at 4 p.m. on Monday, down from 454 on Sunday, as per the CPCB’s daily official bulletin, which is considered as the day’s official AQI. A higher value of AQI means an increase in air pollution. But by 8 p.m., the air quality of Delhi was 414 (“severe” category).
An AQI reading between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, 401 and 450 ‘severe’, and 451 and 500 ‘severe plus’.
Meanwhile, 2,060 stubble burning incidents were recorded in Punjab on Monday — the second highest single-day count so far this season — according to the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS) Lab, run by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi.
The mean contribution of stubble burning in neighbouring States to PM2.5 — a chief pollutant — in Delhi was 21.07% on Sunday, according to IITM Pune.
The PM2.5 level in Delhi was 270.8 micrograms per cubic metre at 12 a.m. on Monday, as per the CPCB’s data — this is about 18 times the WHO limit of 15 micrograms per cubic metre for a 24-hour period. But the level fell through the day to 234.8 micrograms per cubic metre by 7 p.m.
The odd-even scheme was implemented multiple times in the past in Delhi to check rising air pollution, including in 2019.
