NCR towns to enforce odd-even during pollution emergency: EPCA

The odd-even scheme, if implemented next, will have the NCR towns of Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad under its ambit, in addition to Delhi, the Supreme Court-appointed EPCA said today.
The Centre-notified Graded Response Action (GRAP), of which the odd-even is a part, says that the car-rationing scheme is to be implemented across Delhi-National Capital Region, but it has not been done yet due to logistical concerns.
In a meeting, where the Environment Pollution - Prevention and Control Authority (EPCA) reviewed the ongoing implementation of the GRAP here today, the pollution watchdog also said that it will study the implementation of the scheme in cities such as Beijing and Paris and bring necessary modifications.

"The EPCA will work out a manual for odd-even. The recent NGT order on the scheme will also be looked into. We will come up with a short note," environmentalist Sunita Narain, who is an EPCA member, said.
Meanwhile, the air quality slipped back to the 'very poor' category from 'poor' today, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said.
Earlier this month, when pollution had breached emergency levels, the Delhi government had decided to implement the scheme based on odd and even number plates of cars, but had to call it off at the last moment as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had struck down the exemptions given to women and two-wheelers.

Subsequently, the government had expressed its inability to do so, citing inadequacies in the city's public transport system.

A senior official of the Delhi Transport Department (DTC), who was present in the review meeting, said exemptions should be on "functional requirements" and not on individual basis.
Narain also reminded the Delhi government that it had gone ahead with its plan without the EPCA's approval.
The EPCA was not in favour of its implementation as pollution levels were expected to dip and secondly, it was against exemptions.