Thick smog covers the New Delhi area on Wednesday
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, November 8: For second week in a row, Delhi remains carpeted with thick layer of smog while the people battle serious ailments and even depression. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi on Wednesday threw the proverbial towel by abandoning the plan for enforcing ‘Odd-Even’ ration scheme for vehicles.
Delhi Minister for Environment Gopal Rai told reporters on Wednesday that the city government would come up with the vehicle rationing scheme on the roads after the assessment of the effectiveness is done by the Supreme Court. The apex court had scored at the continued stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana yesterday while submissions were made to substitute the paddy with alternative crops. The apex court had noted while stubble burning wasn’t solely responsible for pollution in Delhi, it had underlined that the incidents of farm firm were substantial contributor.
The AAP on Wednesday hit out at the Haryana government for underreporting the cases of stubble burning. The Haryana AAP leader Anurag Dhanda claimed that the state government is underreporting cases of farm fire in the state. After a week of inaction, the MCD has pressed into action anti-smog guns mounted on trucks to spray the key roads in the national capital.
With the AAP abandoning the plan to enforce the ‘Odd-Even’ vehicle ration scheme, the ruling party in Delhi lately became aware that the move wouldn’t get the support of the police while the strength of the transport department is too depleted to oversee the people following the direction. The AAP-led city government apparently avoided possible loss of face for the people not following the vehicle ration scheme and conveniently left it over to the Supreme Court to take a call. Delhi government, meanwhile, announced an early winter break in the wake of the alarming level of poor air quality which is sustaining in the category of hazardous for days. Several sports bodies have cancelled their outdoor activities in the Delhi national capital region.
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