DELHI TO LIMIT USE OF CARS IN AN EFFORT TO CONTROL POLLUTION

[The World Health Organization said last year that New Delhi had the most polluted air of the 1,600 cities it studied around the world. A monitoring station at the United States Embassy here recently recorded an air quality index of 372, according to Reuters, meaning the air was “hazardous,” the worst category. By late Friday, the reading had improved a bit, to 247, which the embassy classifies as “very unhealthy.”]

By Nida Najar

Vehicular Pollution in New Delhi, India.  Credit > Live Mint

K.K. Sharma, the chief secretary of Delhi, told reporters on Friday that starting Jan. 1, the days when a private car would be allowed on the streets would depend on whether its license plate ended in an even or odd number. He did not say how the rules would be enforced.

Mr. Sharma said the restrictions would be temporary: “Whether we’ll run it for two weeks, three weeks, we will see how it goes out. We will announce that as and when it’s finalized. But right now, our efforts will be to make it functional from the first of January.”

He added that public transportation would be increased to make up for the restriction on private cars. The government also said it would shut down a power plant in the capital that burns coal and inspect trucks at the border to make sure they comply with emissions regulations.

The World Health Organization said last year that New Delhi had the most polluted air of the 1,600 cities it studied around the world. A monitoring station at the United States Embassy here recently recorded an air quality index of 372, according to Reuters, meaning the air was “hazardous,” the worst category. By late Friday, the reading had improved a bit, to 247, which the embassy classifies as “very unhealthy.”

Many factors contribute to fouling the capital’s air, experts say, including tailpipe and smokestack emissions, the burning of cropland in nearby states and the widespread burning of garbage.

“It’s a cocktail of pollution,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, the executive director of the Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment. “It’s a multi-pollutant crisis.”

She added that Delhi’s air pollution had been in the “severe” category, the highest level designated by the government’s Central Pollution Control Board, on nearly three-quarters of the days in November.

On Thursday, the Delhi High Court asked the government to take action, calling the air pollution levels in the capital “alarming” and likening life there to “living in a gas chamber,” the Press Trust of India news agency reported. The National Green Tribunal directed the Delhi government to convene a meeting about pollution on Wednesday, the news agency reported.

The Indian capital is growing in population and affluence, and the number of cars and trucks on its streets is rising fast. The most recent Economic Survey of Delhi found that there were more than 8.8 million vehicles on the road there from 2014 to 2015. The number of vehicle registrations increased by 14 percent from the previous year, according to the Center for Science and Environment. Heavy traffic often snarls the city’s streets.

Delhi residents seem to be more aware of air quality problems in recent years. Many affluent families buy air filters for their homes, and especially in the winter months, some residents wear surgical masks as they move about the city. Newspapers carry reports about a rising number of hospital patients with respiratory illnesses. But there had been little meaningful action on the issue from the Delhi regional government before Friday’s announcement.

In addition to the limits to be imposed on private cars, Mr. Sharma said trucks would be allowed on Delhi’s roads only after 11 p.m., two hours later than they are currently permitted. And he said that beginning in April, the public works department would use vacuums to clear the dust from Delhi’s streets.

Environmental advocates here welcomed the moves but called them stopgaps that would have to be followed by more fundamental structural changes.

“You still need some of these desperate measures” along the way to more long-term solutions, Ms. Chowdhury said

@ The New York Times