Pollutants dipped in Delhi’s Air

Pollutants dipped in Delhi’s Air

New Delhi: Did the Odd-even Traffic Scheme which was introduced in Delhi from Friday 1^st January 2016 helped at least to some extent to reduce Air Pollution in Delhi?

System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) answered positively.  According to SAFAR, pollutants in the Delhi’s air dipped by around 10 per cent on average between 8 am to 2 pm today, the first day of introduction of Odd-even scheme in Delhi. This information is given in comparison with the statistics of last two days. SAFAR says this is ‘possibly’ due to the Odd-even restrictions.

As per initial observations of SAFAR, the gains of less vehicular emissions could have been more had there been less vehicular movement and no bursting of firecrackers on the night of January 31.

Although the average value of suspended particulate matter PM 2.5 rose to around 198 micrograms per cubic metre, an increase as compared to  Thursday, 31 December 2015, a fall could be observed between 8am when the odd-even scheme kicked in and 2pm,

"Air quality remained very poor. But the reduction in PM 2.5, possibly around 15 per cent due to less emissions and vehicular dust reduction, that was observed for few hours could be seen as an impact of the odd-even measure as other factors like wind speed and temperature remained the same as last two days," SAFAR's Project Director Gufran Beig said.

However, the jump that was seen afterward need to be examined scientifically and it was possibly due to a sudden dip in the day time temperature. Cooler temperature heightens pollution.

For the First time in the Country Odd-even Scheme of Traffic System was introduced in Delhi from today. Chief Minister of Delhi Aravind Kejriwal was overwhelmed to the success and complimented the people for it. He himself traveled to Secretariat in Car Pooling with transport and health ministers, while several other ministers traveled through motor bikes or through Auto Rickshaws.

Aam Aadmi Party workers as well as several other social workers joined the movement and helped police and public for car pooling and success of new traffic system. They offered  roses to those who violated the rule.