Stuck between the differing views of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Delhi Government, the odd-even traffic rationing scheme has been put off. The air quality in Delhi, meanwhile, has continued to be severe according data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The air quality remains at hazardous levels across the city, which has been under a haze for days together.
The Tribunal, which had earlier questioned the State government on why the scheme was being implemented and what the efficacy of such a move would be, on Saturday allowed the odd-even scheme to be implemented, but without exemptions.
The green court asked the government to remove exemptions given to women drivers, two-wheelers as well as government servants. In the previous two phases of the scheme, implemented in 2016, these categories had been given relief from the scheme, which allows cars with odd number plates on odd dates and even numbers on even dates.
This decision, however, did not sit well with the Delhi Government, which has decided to cancel the implementation of the scheme which was expected to start on Monday.
“This Government gives highest priority to the safety and security of women and therefore, it feels that the exemption to this category should continue,” the Delhi government said in a statement.
It added that removing two-wheelers from the list of exemptions would put a larger number of people under hardship since the city has a “large number of two wheelers”. “Unless adequate number of buses are available, implementation of odd-even will cause great hardship to such persons. This is not feasible to arrange such a large number of buses at this stage,” the statement added.
The State government has decided to file another application with the NGT to review the order given on Saturday regarding the exemptions. Any decision on implementation of the scheme would be taken only after this.