Delhi's Odd/Even Experiment Cannot be Permanent

Opinion Piece by Ms. Jyoti Parikh, India Express - Cleaning up Delhi’s air requires both short-term and long-term solutions. Typically, the control of a number of short-term solutions lies with the Delhi government, while long-term solutions require the Central government to act.

Odd-even cannot be a long-term solution for the NCR as the number of vehicles in Delhi alone, not counting the NCR region, is increasing at nearly 6 lakhs per year in Delhi alone, of which some 35 per cent are cars. Odd-even may have taken out at most 30 per cent of the cars of Delhi’s 28 lakh cars as cars on the road keep increasing and within a couple of years, even with odd-even, the cars on the road would increase. To reduce pollution, we need cleaner cars and much greater use of public transport, walking, cycling and improvement in the quality of public transport. The solution lies in a more comprehensive transport strategy and dealing with other sources of pollution. It requires actions not just by Delhi government, but also by governments of the surrounding states as well as by the Central government.

Read the full piece here

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