Delhi's AQI Crisis: The revival of the odd-even scheme – Key information you should know

“On odd dates, vehicles with registration numbers ending in 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 will be allowed to ply.

In the wake of mounting pollution levels and health concerns affecting the city's residents, the Delhi government said the Odd-Even vehicle system will be implemented from November 13 to 20.

A decision to extend the scheme will be made after November 20.  "There are over 7,000 buses running in Delhi, out of which 1,000 are electric. The frequency of buses and metros has also increased. To reduce vehicular pollution, an odd-even scheme has been started," said Environment Minister Gopal Rai said.

The Delhi government had earlier banned the entry of polluting trucks and construction. However, the air quality did not improve.

What is an odd-even scheme?

This scheme is a traffic rationing measure.  With the implementation of these schemes, private vehicles with registration numbers ending with an odd digit will be allowed on roads on odd dates and those with an even digit on even dates.  “On odd dates, vehicles with registration numbers ending in 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 will be allowed to ply. On even dates, vehicles with registration numbers ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 will run,” said Rai.

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It was first introduced in 2016 by the AAP government to control vehicular pollution and bring down increasing particulate matter levels. The odd-even scheme will apply to all non-transport four-wheeled vehicles and even those coming in from other states. It is recommended under Stage IV or the ‘severe plus’ category of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). This scheme is not unique to Delhi. Cities such as Milan, Beijing and Rome have also adopted it.

Who are exempted?

The President, Vice President and Prime Minister are exempted from this scheme.  Also, VIP vehicles including those state governors, the Chief Justice of India, Speakers of the Lok Sabha, Union ministers, leaders of the Opposition of both Houses, Supreme Court judges, the chairman of UPSC, chief election commissioners and CAG, deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha and deputy speaker of Lok Sabha and lieutenant-general of NCT/Delhi and judges of the high court will be exempted from the scheme. Women-only cars, two-wheelers, vehicles on emergency duties, and cars having people with disabilities as occupants are exempted too.  Violations of the odd-even rule were fined Rs 4,000 in 2019.

What do experts say?

A study by the University of Chicago revealed that the previous edition of Odd-Even had lowered pollution by 15%, said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in 2019. "Delhi is doing everything from distributing two masks each to every household to implementing the odd-even scheme in the national capital," he had said.

According to a study by Delhi Technological University (DTU) in 2016, when the scheme was implemented, the concentration of PM 2.5 and PM 1 saw a drop after two weeks. Sewa Ram, senior professor and scientist at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), told Indian Express.  “When the odd-even scheme is implemented, traffic congestion is reduced and it helps cut emissions and pollutants released from each vehicle. But it also depends on the meteorological situation of that particular day. So, it has a marginal impact on the improvement of air quality levels, not major.”

According to the data issued by the System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR-India), the air quality in the national capital was recorded at 488, up from 410 on November 5.