NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday met leading experts in the field of environment and sustainability for suggestions on making a strong Winter Air Pollution Action Plan for the national capital. Government sources said the experts lauded the CM for the ‘Odd-Even’ scheme in a bid to cut vehicular pollution by introducing car rationing. It was part of the city’s Winter Action Plan to curb runaway pollution levels.
“The ‘Odd-Even’ project, introduced in January 2016, reduced particulate air pollution concentrations by 14 percent to 16 per cent. However, due to the possibility of compliance issues in the long-run, it is perhaps best suited as an emergency measure in winter,” Ken Lee, Executive Director, EPIC (Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago), India, said.
OP Agarwal, CEO, World Resources Institute (WRI), too, lauded the plan, saying, “In the short term, the Delhi government should look for more measures, such as the ‘Odd-Even’ scheme, to restrict indiscriminate use of private automobiles in the city.”