NEW DELHI: The Delhi government kicked started its month-long ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ campaign across 100 busy junctions in the city on Monday in a bid to check vehicular emissions. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to people to “contribute” in the fight against pollution and make the campaign successful. “Whenever you stop at the red light, please turn off your car’s engine. This will save fuel and also help reduce pollution,” Kejriwal said in a tweet on Monday.
On the day, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai visited the ITO crossing and handed roses to commuters, and appealed to the people to turn off their car’s engines at red signals as well as extend their support to make this fight against pollution a success.
“Data by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) shows that if people follow the exercise of switching off engines at traffic signals, pollution can be cut down by 13-20 per cent,” Rai said, adding that pollution levels were within safe limits in September.
The ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ campaign will continue till November 18. A total of 2,500 civil defence volunteers will be deployed in two shifts from 8 am to 2 pm and 2 pm to 8 pm across the 100 spots. According to officials, these civil defence volunteers will hand out pamphlets carrying information on Chief Minister Kejriwal’s three appeals to the people. To help fight the pollution in Delhi, Kejriwal had last week appealed to the people to actively participate in the campaign, avoid using their cars at least one day a week, and report any case of violation of pollution norms on the Green Delhi app.
Later in a statement the minister said that the Delhi government has taken up the responsibility right from the preparation of the Pusa bio-decomposer solution to spraying it in the fields. The microbial decompser solution can turn stubble into manure in 15 to 20 days. “Had other state governments taken up the responsibility, stubble would not have been burning right now. Air pollution is increasing inside Delhi due to stubble burning.