Delhi limits drivers to alternate days to curb choking pollution

[WhiteTara]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/delhi-limits-drivers-to-alternate-days-to-curb-choking-pollution/2015/12/04/aeee4008-9a8e-11e5-aca6-1ae3be6f06d2_story.html

NEW DELHI — The Delhi government announced a plan Friday to curb its choking pollution levels, among the worst in the world, by limiting drivers to alternate days beginning next month.

Starting Jan. 1, residents in India’s capital city, which had been suffocating under a blanket of thick smog in recent days, will only be able to drive on alternate days based on their license plate number — odd numbers on one day, even on the other.

The plan — likely to be controversial — was announced after a Delhi high court issued a directive Thursday ordering the state and national government as well as Delhi’s pollution control committee to devise a concrete plan to address rising air pollution levels by Dec. 21.

“It seems like we are living in a gas chamber,” the court said.


Asia & Pacific
Delhi limits drivers to alternate days to curb choking pollution
Resize Text Print Article Comments 1

An Indian flag flies in a thick layer of smog after the Diwali festival in New Delhi on Nov. 12. (Altaf Qadri/AP)
By Annie Gowen December 4 at 1:55 PM
NEW DELHI — The Delhi government announced a plan Friday to curb its choking pollution levels, among the worst in the world, by limiting drivers to alternate days beginning next month.

Starting Jan. 1, residents in India’s capital city, which had been suffocating under a blanket of thick smog in recent days, will only be able to drive on alternate days based on their license plate number — odd numbers on one day, even on the other.

The plan — likely to be controversial — was announced after a Delhi high court issued a directive Thursday ordering the state and national government as well as Delhi’s pollution control committee to devise a concrete plan to address rising air pollution levels by Dec. 21.

“It seems like we are living in a gas chamber,” the court said.

Delhi’s air — a noxious combination of exhaust, dust, smoke from wood and dung-fired stoves, burning leaves and industrial output — surpassed Beijing’s last year as the dirtiest in the world, according to a study by the World Health Organization.

more at link

[KamaAina]

1. Plate-swapping amongst neighbors?

[WhiteTara]

4. what ever it takes to keep on with your desire to drive?

[KamaAina]

6. I'm not for it, just thinking what ingenious Delhians might do for a workaround.

And they seem to have pretty good transit for a city in the Global South.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi#Metro

The Delhi Metro is a rapid transit system serving Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad in the National Capital Region of India. Delhi Metro is the world's 13th largest metro system in terms of length. Delhi Metro was India's first modern public transportation system which has revolutionised travel by providing a fast, reliable, safe, and comfortable means of transport. The network consists of six lines with a total length of 189.63 kilometres (117.83 miles) with 142 stations, of which 35 are underground, five are at-grade, and the remainder are elevated. All stations have escalators, elevators, and tactile tiles to guide the visually impaired from station entrances to trains. It has a combination of elevated, at-grade, and underground lines, and uses both broad gauge and standard gauge rolling stock. Four types of rolling stock are used: Mitsubishi-ROTEM Broad gauge, Bombardier MOVIA, Mitsubishi-ROTEM Standard gauge, and CAF Beasain Standard gauge. The Phase-I of Delhi Metro was built at a cost of US$2.3 billion and the Phase-II was expected to cost an additional ₹216 billion (US$3.2 billion). Phase-II has a total length of 128 km and was completed by 2010. Delhi Metro completed 10 years of operation on 25 December 2012. It carries millions of passengers every day. In addition to the Delhi Metro, a suburban railway, the Delhi Suburban Railway exists.

Delhi Metro is being built and operated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC), a state-owned company with equal equity participation from Government of India and Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi. However, the organisation is under administrative control of Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India. Besides construction and operation of Delhi Metro, DMRC is also involved in the planning and implementation of metro rail, monorail and high-speed rail projects in India and providing consultancy services to other metro projects in the country as well as abroad. The Delhi Metro project was spearheaded by Padma Vibhushan E. Sreedharan, the Managing Director of DMRC and popularly known as the "Metro Man" of India. He famously resigned from DMRC taking moral responsibility for a metro bridge collapse which took five lives. Sreedharan was awarded with the prestigious Legion of Honour by the French Government for his contribution to Delhi Metro.

[WhiteTara]

7. I agree with you

people will do what ever it takes to maintain their lifestyle, no matter the consequences...even choking oneself to death on pollution for the convenience of a personal car.

[valerief]

5. Sounds like a real possibility. nt

[Ron Green]

2. We will poison ourselves and foul our nest

for comfort and convenience.

[KamaAina]

3. Congestion pricing a la London?