No Need for It Right Now: Nitin Gadkari Dismisses Kejriwal’s Odd-Even Idea to Combat Delhi Pollution

New Delhi: Just minutes after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that the odd-even car rationing scheme will be reintroduced in the capital to combat pollution, union minister for road transport Nitin Gadkari said there was no need for it right now.

“There is no need for it now....in next 2 years, Delhi will be pollution free. It’s their decision, let them do whatever," Gadkari said.

Kejriwal has said that the scheme will only be implemented if the pollution crosses the danger mark defined by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Graded Response Action Plan.

Under the odd-even scheme, cars with licence plates ending in an odd number and even number are allowed to ply on alternate days, except weekends, but exemptions were earlier granted to women, VIPs and two-wheelers.

Kejriwal, however, did not give any details of exemptions planned under the scheme this time, saying, “We will take into consideration all findings from the previous odd-even experience."

Delhi has been ranked on top of the World Health Oragnisation's ranking of the world's most polluted cities for several years, but recent studies have shown that pollution has gone down nearly 25 per cent in the last three years compared to the 2011-2014 period.

There is still room to improve a lot, however, as experts said pollution needs to be further cut by 65 per cent to meet clean air targets.