The Delhi government on Sunday decided to exempt electric vehicles from the odd-even road rationing scheme starting from November 4. Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot in a statement said that the number of registered electric vehicles in the city was less than 1,000 and they are not likely to cause any congestion. "It has, therefore, been decided to exempt the electric vehicles from the odd-even restrictions," he said. The odd-even scheme came into effect from 8 am on November 4. Under the scheme, vehicles having odd and even last digits of registration number will ply on odd and even dates, respectively. The scheme will conclude on November 15. The electric vehicles were not included in the list of exempted vehicles mentioned in the notification issued by the Delhi government for implementation of the odd-even scheme.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stated that the odd-even initiative is a part of a seven-point action plan to combat air pollution caused due to crop burning by farmers in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana starting October. There are 3.1 million registered cars (as of 2018) plying on the roads of Delhi with 1000 new cars adding to the load every day on an average. Delhi has been ranked on top of the World Health Organization’s ranking of the world's most polluted cities for several years, with vehicular and industrial emissions, dust from building sites, and smoke from the burning of waste and crop residue contributing to it.
Delhi High Court once said that living in Delhi is like "living in a gas chamber", and can cause severe damage to health. The Particulate Matter (PM) is worse among other forms of toxic gases and coagulates during winters to cause much trouble in Delhi. While pollution has gone down nearly 25 per cent in the last three years compared to the 2011-2014 period, studies show that pollution needs to be further cut by 65 per cent to meet clean air targets.
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