The ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ campaign will begin on October 26 as a result of the city’s air quality continuing to deteriorate over the past few days, according to Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai declared on Monday that the ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ campaign will begin on Thursday, October 26 as a result of the national capital’s air quality deteriorating to ‘very poor’.
The program urges drivers to cut off their motors while stopped at red lights in order to lessen city air pollution.
Additionally, Rai stated that odd-even vehicle rationing is not currently being explored. In accordance with the odd-even method, private vehicles with license plates that end in odd numbers operate on odd days and those with plates that end in even days.
According to Rai, Dussehra in Delhi is a day when fireworks are prohibited. He made a plea for support from Delhi residents, adding that “whatever work we do will have an impact on us only.”
Rai also complained that representatives had skipped a meeting on pollution. He claimed that although all department secretaries were invited to the meeting, not a single one of them showed up. He pleaded with the Chief Secretary to make sure that officers attended these sessions.
In order to implement GRAP-2 (Graded Response Action Plan) in Delhi, a meeting was conducted with 28 departments. In addition to the 13 hotspots, eight more locations with AQI readings exceeding 300 were also found. At these eight locations, where local pollution sources would be evaluated, Nodals were told to deploy special teams, according to the Minister.
In order to stop dust pollution in the city, Rai claimed that the administration has also planned to employ dust suppression powder.
For the first time since May, Delhi’s air quality became “very poor” on Sunday. This was mostly because of a reduction in temperature and wind speed, which allowed pollutants to build up. On Sunday, the capital’s 24-hour average air quality index dropped from 248 on Saturday to 313 on Sunday.
