Introduce destination buses to decongest roads in Delhi: NGT

Aiming at steps to curb pollution, the National Green Tribunal has directed Delhi government to reduce traffic congestion on city roads and introduce destination buses to improve air quality in the national capital.

The green panel said the introduction of destination buses would facilitate an individual to opt for such a service rather than driving a car alone on highly congested roads.

"The traffic on roads of Delhi needs to be reduced by taking various measures that have already been directed to be taken by various authorities including introduction of destination buses which could certainly help particularly the middle class and single driver from opting for destination buses rather than driving a car individually on highly congested roads of Delhi," a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.

It also asked the AAP government to provide incentives to those using public transport in order to encourage them.

The Tribunal had earlier directed the Delhi government to convene a meeting of concerned authorities and come up with solutions to tackle the worsening air quality in the national capital, after being told that the odd-even scheme has not helped in curbing pollution.

Earlier, the apex pollution monitoring body CPCB had told NGT that decline in vehicular emission in the second week of odd-even was not a dominant enough factor to impact the pollution levels.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had monitored several pollutants between April 1-14 before the odd-even period and April 15-30 during it, to arrive at the conclusion.

The NGT was hearing a petition filed by scientist Mahendra Pandey who has sought independent monitoring of air quality index and also claiming that vehicular emission was not a major contributing factor to pollution.