Millions of New Delhi residents will have to find alternative ways to work from tomorrow, when authorities launch a trial of draconian traffic restrictions to try to clean up the world’s most polluted capital.
Private cars are to be banned from the roads on alternate days from tomorrow as part of a slew of measures aimed at reducing smog levels that include shutting some coal-fired power plants and vacuuming roads to reduce dust.
The New Delhi Government announced the scheme after a court ordered authorities to tackle pollution levels more than 10 times the WHO’s safety limits.
Photo: AFP
It is to run for an initial two-week trial period, but many commuters fear the government will have little choice but to introduce a longer-term ban given the scale of the problem.
However, some critics warn the measures would be unenforceable in a city where traffic rules are already routinely flouted.
Many believe New Delhi residents will deploy the famed Indian skill of jugaad — creating a cheap alternative solution — by forging number plates or buying second cars.
“The biggest challenge is to make people realize that this fight against pollution is for them, for their health, for their own good,” New Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai said. “They will only be cheating themselves with jugaad. There is no magic button that will make the pollution disappear. We must act now.”
To cope with the extra pressure on the public transport network, the city government has hired about 3,000 private buses to provide shuttle services into the city from residential areas.
Schools have been ordered to remain closed until the trial ends on Jan. 15 so that their buses can be pressed into action.
Traffic police and 10,000 volunteers are to monitor cars at checkpoints across the city and violators are to be fined 2,000 rupees (US$30) — extremely steep for the average resident.
About 8.5 million vehicles clog up New Delhi’s roads and 1,400 new cars are being added every day as the city’s residents become more affluent.
That has contributed to the city being the most polluted of 1,600 around the world that were surveyed by the WHO last year.
New Delhi’s air quality drops dramatically during winter when farmers in neighboring states burn crop stubble, while poor residents light fires to keep warm and the colder air traps pollutants in the atmosphere.
The city has in recent weeks been enveloped in a toxic soup that has cut visibility and pushed PM 2.5 levels more than 10 times the WHO’s recommended safety limit.
The extremely fine particles — less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter — are linked to increased rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease.
The new restrictions, in place from 8am to 8pm everyday except Sunday, allow cars with odd-numbered license plates to drive on odd-numbered dates and those with even-numbered plates on the others.
They have divided residents, with many looking forward to the novelty of congestion-free roads, while others in the city’s vast commuter belt grumble that getting to work will be impossible.
Many have complained the plan ignores other sources like dust-generating construction sites, crop burning and dusty winds from the arid west.
Environmental campaigners point out that there are dozens of exemptions from the driving ban, including dignitaries, women driving alone and motorcycles, which they say contribute up to 31 percent of total vehicular pollution.
“Let’s not convince ourselves wrongly that a simple odd-even policy will solve the overall air pollution issue,” Council on Energy, Environment and Water head Arunabha Ghosh said. “Otherwise, we will be simply kicking the can down the road, and we will create a feeling of distrust among citizens and the government machinery.”
New Delhi’s air improved dramatically in 2002 when its diesel-guzzling public transport — buses, taxis and autorickshaws — switched to clean compressed natural gas.
Since then India’s breakneck development, generous diesel subsidies and low emission standards have led the city’s air to deteriorate to a point where it claims up to 30,000 lives every year, according to the Centre for Science and Environment.
Beijing imposed similar restrictions ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games, producing its best air quality in a decade. However, analysts say India’s ingrained culture of corruption and non-compliance will make that harder to achieve than in authoritarian China.
Complicating things further, New Delhi’s police force is controlled by the federal government, whose ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lost a bitter election battle against the New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal this year.
Pankaj Mehta, who drives 45km to work daily, predicted tiring times ahead.
“Rickshaw, then metro, then feeder bus, then walk — back and forth. A travel nightmare, but if it makes breathing easier, then it may be worth it,” the 42-year-old said.
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