Delhi govt claims less pollution

The Delhi government on Saturday claimed that pollution, as compared to this time last year, had come down in the city following launch of its odd-even car scheme on Friday, but admitted that there was no impact in the outlying areas.

Transport Minister Gopal Rai blamed it on trucks entering the city. He said 12 lakh cars were off the roads now.

The Delhi Traffic Police said it challaned 229 violators on the second day of the road-rationing drive. On the first day, authorities – traffic police, Transport Department and sub-divisional magistrates combined – penalised 205 people across the city for breaking the odd-even formula.

Areas like Anand Vihar, Rohtas Nagar, Patparganj and Kondli, which border Uttar Pradesh, are showing high levels of air pollution as compared to areas towards central parts of Delhi, as per the Delhi Pollution Control Committee’s assessment on the New Year.

Capital’s satellite cities, especially Noida and Ghaziabad, need to “take effective steps to curb air pollution”, the Arvind Kejriwal government said.

On majority of locations, the level of particulate matters – PM 2.5 and PM 10.0 – shows a “marked decrease” when compared with same dates and times of previous years, government in a statement said. 

On an average, PM 2.5 (particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5 microns) levels stood at less than 150 units at many locations.

Last year New Year, the figure stood at around 250 units on majority of locations.