Delhi government has announced that private car and two-wheeler will be allowed on the city roads only on alternative days from next year, in a bid to clean up the capital's polluted air. Private vehicles will be allowed to run on the street only every other day, depending on whether their license plates end in even or odd numbers, the government declared a day after it was criticised by the high court over its mounting pollution problem.
Known as road space rationing, the method is followed in various forms across the world, though experts said implementation could prove to be a major challenge as well over two million vehicles would have to be kept off the roads every day. The city’s vehicular population, which causes choking jams on all weekdays, includes about 2.7 million cars.
The government also announced a slew of other measures that could help curb air pollution, including stopping roadside parking to battle congestion, improving the public transportation system and bringing cleaner fuel to the city before the rest of the country. The city also plans to shut down one of its oldest and least efficient thermal power plants. The Badarpur plant, commissioned in the early 1970s, uses outdated equipment and often breaks down. Traffic police will also be told to ensure that diesel-guzzling trucks, which transit through the city at night, enter only after 11pm. Currently trucks are allowed to enter the city at 9pm, often resulting in massive traffic jams.
Earlier this year the city ordered all private cars older than 10 years to be taken off the roads, becoming the second major city in the world to do so after Beijing. Last year, the World Health Organization named the Delhi as the world’s most polluted, with 12 other Indian cities ranking among the worst 20.
