Plea contesting Delhi’s ‘odd-even’ scheme filed with NGT

NEW DELHI: An advocate filed a plea with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), contesting Delhi Government’s decision of implementing the famed odd-even scheme in the capital to tackle the traditional growth in air pollution levels during the winter season. The plea is based off on a discovery made by a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report earlier which indicated that the policy was not effective in its earlier iteration. The report observed that the air quality of Delhi deteriorated during the odd even scheme’s implementation in 2016. 

“Pollution levels were studied in three phases—seven days before the odd-even scheme was rolled out, during the fortnight in which the measure was implemented, and seven days after the odd-even scheme ended. Pollution levels had shot up during the implementation because of adverse meteorological factors,” D Saha, former head of the CPCB air quality laboratory, who led the pollution levels study, said. 

The plea stated that the Delhi government’s decision to implement the road rationing policy was based on a study conducted by persons from a foreign country, which would set the wrong precedent for India. 

“At a time when the country’s top environmental pollution control boards such as the CPCB and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) have unequivocally stated that odd-even policy, when implemented in 2016, failed to curb air pollution, the Delhi government’s implementation of the policy based merely on a study by another country downgrades the reputation of these institutes,” the plea filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal stated.