NEW DELHI: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday said civil defence volunteers will be deployed at 100 traffic intersections in the national capital from Wednesday as part of the “Red Light On, Gaadi Off” campaign.
The initiative will be launched from ITO, Rai said, adding that it will only be an awareness drive and nobody will be issued any “challan” regarding the matter.
“The Delhi government thinks that if everyone is affected due to pollution during the Covid-19 situation, then everyone needs to contribute as well, whether it be two minutes at a traffic signal. We are aggressively launching an awareness campaign. I believe that when something starts, it looks tough, but it will gradually become the culture of the national capital,” Rai said.
The Environment Minister said the Delhi Police has selected 100 traffic intersections for the campaign. “We had three rounds of joint meetings with the Delhi police, the transport department and the environment department as well. The Delhi Police has selected and given us 100 intersections. We are appointing around 2,500 environment marshals from the civil defence. They will coordinate with the traffic police and take the campaign forward. We are also deploying teams of the transport department,” the minister said.
The marshals will be deployed at the 100 traffic signals across Delhi’s 11 districts. They will carry placards and give roses to those not switching off the engines of their vehicles at red lights. The commuters will be made aware as to how they can fight pollution through the move, Rai said.
“We think the pollution in Delhi affects all of us and all of us need to take the responsibility of resolving this issue. If we need a permanent solution, then the sources of pollution will have to be controlled. I request people to turn off the engines of their vehicles if they spend more than 15 seconds at a traffic signal. It will save fuel and reduce pollution,” Rai said.
With PTI inputs