“The Winds of Winter” is here and so is pollution in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), which become a “gam chamber” this time every year, without fail for the past seven years. This time too, pollution in Delhi and NCR has been making headlines with the onset of winter.
Meerut, a city in NCR, is among the ten most polluted cities in the world on October 23, according to the real-time data available on the World Air Quality Index (https://aqicn.org) at 4:54 pm. People of Meerut were breathing “Hazardous” air as the Air Quality Index (AQI) touched 406.
Matadero in Spain’s Asturias was the most polluted place in the world where the AQI was close to 900. City of Tshwane in South Africa, Niland-English Road, Imperial in California; Ilam in Iran were among the ten most polluted places as per the data.
Meerut is the only Indian city with a “very poor” category today, as per the October 23 Air Quality Index (AQI) bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Board, a statutory organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
“Red Light on Gaadi Off” Campaign in Delhi
The Delhi government will re-launch a campaign to curb vehicular pollution on October 26, a year after Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena put it on hold, questioning its effectiveness.
This Winter, Delhi’s Air Will Be Much Cleaner than Last Year; Delhiites Must Do their Bit: Gopal Rai
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Monday said that “red light on, gaadi off” campaign will begin from Thursday, October 26. He informed that bikes were causing maximum pollution, and requested motorcyclists to get their “Pollution Under Control Certificate” (PUCs) updated.
However, he mentioned that the odd-even car-rationing scheme, which allows cars to ply on alternate days based on odd or even number plates, is not currently under consideration.
Sources in the city government’s environment department said the LG’s permission will not be required for the “Red Light On Gaadi Off” campaign this year as the participants will not receive any honorarium, unlike in previous seasons.
The “Red Light on Gaadi Off” campaign, first launched on October 16, 2020, aims to reduce vehicular pollution in the national capital by encouraging drivers to switch off their vehicles while waiting for traffic lights to turn green.
A 2019 study conducted by the Central Road Research Institute showed that keeping engines running at traffic signals can increase pollution levels by more than 9 per cent.
(With PTI inputs)
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