The Supreme Court on Monday panned the Delhi government over its toxic air and questioned the capability of the Odd-Even road rationing scheme in combating air pollution.
“What are you achieving by odd and even? Are you preventing the running of taxis? Have you any figure on the impact of odd and even?” the court asked and directed the state government to submit data on its impact.
“People have to travel. You are not stopping travel. What do you achieve by stopping cars?” asked Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta, who are hearing a plea by the pollution control body Environment Pollution Control Authority or EPCA on stubble burning in neighbouring states like Punjab and Haryana.
The Odd-Even rule came into force in the national capital Monday morning at 8 am and will continue till 8 pm. The 12-hour scheme will continue till November 15.
The state government has implemented the scheme in a bid to reduce air pollution. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said 15 lakh vehicles will be off Delhi’s roads today.
“In Delhi, 30 lakh cars are out on the roads every day. Today, 15 lakh cars will not be on the roads. The smoke from 15 lakh cars will be reduced… As per reports from across Delhi, nearly 100 per cent compliance is being noted,” the Chief Minister told reporters.
The Supreme Court noted that it has been pointed out that the use of two and three wheelers was causing more harm and that there is no use of implementing the odd-even scheme in such a situation.
When the government defended that fewer cars would mean less pollution, the top court retorted, “More autos are plying, that’s more pollution”.
“We need to go from single-use transport to mass-use vehicles,” the court observed.
The Supreme Court further observed that burning of waste in Delhi is a major concern.
Earlier, the top court had lashed out at Punjab and Haryana governments over stubble burning saying, “States are responsible. Must be made answerable under the law of torts… They are only interested in electioneering. They have no responsibility towards their own people”.
“Everybody is interested in gimmicks and elections,” Justice Mishra added as reasons for air pollution were bundled out.
The 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) value on Monday morning was 437. On Sunday, unprecedented air pollution hovered over 625 AQI across Delhi and hit the 999-mark in parts of the national capital like Bawana. The capital woke up to thick layers of smog and near zero visibility that forced diversion of many flights to Delhi airport on Sunday.