As national capital continue to witness high levels of pollution, Delhi government Monday said that it will come out with a foolproof plan before December 25 to implement alternate days rule for plying vehicles in streets.
Delhi government has announced to allow odd and even number plate private vehicles to ply on alternate days to curb pollution. The move has been criticized over poor public transport facility available in the city.
"We are working on all aspects of the decision and the suggestions made. The scheme is to be implemented from January 1, 2016. We will come out with a foolproof plan before December 25," Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai said at an event.
Meanwhile, there was no respite from pollution in Delhi as levels shot up today with most of the monitoring stations recording the city's air quality in severe category with PM 2.5 and PM 10 nearly three times above the safe limit.
The spurt has been caused by calm wind movement and increased humidity and this has resulted in the polluting particles of microscopic size not getting dispersed due to the atmospheric phenomenon, said India Meteorological Department.
The government is also planning to strengthen the public transport system by introducing more buses and increasing the frequency of Metro trains to accommodate the rush of commuters and it will approach DMRC and Delhi Police to work out a strategy in this regard.
The alternate vehicle ply scheme limits private vehicle to be on road for 15 days a month. The scheme is prevalent in Beijing and Singapore. As per plants even number plate vehicle will ply on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and odd on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. There is no restriction on vehicles on Sundays.
Emergency services like ambulances and public transport will not be under the ambit of the restriction. Delhi government also has decided to take a series of steps to cut pollution which include shutting down of a thermal power plant and making it mandatory for vehicles to have Euro VI emission norms from 2017, against the 2012 deadline in rest of the country.
The minister said that Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Cluster have been asked to increase the frequency of their buses by 20 percent.
"Besides, Metro will also be asked to increase their working hours so that people don't have to face problem while using public transport. If we increase public transport by 20 percent, there will be no problem for people," he also said.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that the government would discontinue the move after 10 to 15 days if people faced problems.