The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Delhi government to reduce traffic congestion on city roads and introduce destination buses to improve air quality in the Capital, which has shown a rapid deterioration in recent weeks with the drop in temperature.
The NGT was hearing a petition filed by scientist Mahendra Pandey, who has sought independent monitoring of air quality index and has also claimed that vehicular emission was not a major contributing factor to pollution.
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, destination buses could particularly help the middle class and single driver,” NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.
‘Provide incentives’
It also asked the Delhi government to provide incentives to those using public transport in order to encourage the activity further.
The NGT 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 Capital, after being told that the odd-even scheme has not helped in curbing pollution.
Earlier, the apex pollution-monitoring body CPCB had told the NGT that decline in vehicular emission in the second week of odd-even was not a dominant enough factor to impact pollution levels. The Central Pollution Control Board had monitored several pollutants between April 1-14 before the odd-even period and April 15-30 during it, to arrive at the conclusion.
