Car-free Gurgaon: NGT flays Haryana govt's initiative

The National Green Tribunal today took exception to Haryana government's submission that the study on the impact of pollution on the recent 'car-free day' in Gurgaon was carried out by an NGO and not an official agency.
"Why didn't you do it yourself? You projected the drive, it was your scheme. It was sponsored by your government. It should have been handled by you. You could have directed analysis and sampling of the pollution levels," a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.
Haryana government was addressing the Tribunal in pursuance to its directions seeking information about the actual impact of the initiative on the pollution level in the city.

Gurgaon had on Septemer 22 observed a 'car-free day' to encourage people to use public modes of transportation.
The counsel for Haryana government informed the Tribunal that a study was carried out by an NGO with regard to the impact of the drive on the environment.
According to the NGO, levels of PM 2.5 emitted by vehicles were lower in the city and pollution level was down by almost 21 per cent due to the 'car-free day' initiative, he said.

Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) is an air pollutant that is a concern for people's health when levels in air are high.

During the hearing, the Tribunal also flayed the Delhi police over contrasting data on heavy commercial vehicles entering the capital saying "you people will never let an order come".
The green panel expressed displeasure over the stark difference in the data of the vehicles passing through Delhi as provided by various departments and asked Delhi Police to come out with cumulative data on the number of vehicle entering from different check points.
"You people will never let an order come," the NGT bench, which is deliberating on a mechanism to devise an alternative route for commercial vehicles passing through the city to decongest the roads and reduce vehicular emissions, said.

The observation came after advocate Bhakti Pasrija Sethi, appearing for Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association (SCWLA), said there is difference in the data given by Delhi Police.
"On one hand, Delhi traffic police has informed the bench that only 4,852 goods transport vehicles enter daily while additional commissioner of police (Traffic) has written to an english daily that about 46,000 trucks enter Delhi daily on an average," she said.
To this, the traffic police said this was data with regard to those vehicles only which are coming towards Delhi from Panipat toll on the northern border.