Don't drive your vehicle once a week: Delhi CM's appeal to combat pollution

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday appealed to motorists in the city to keep their vehicles parked one day in a week and make use of public transportation options in order to combat the infamous pollution that marks a return each winter season. Citing vehicular emissions as a major reason for the high pollution levels, Kejriwal appealed that people should make use of services offered by the metro and public buses or even consider vehicle sharing.

Announcing the return 'Red Light on, Gaadi off' initiative from October 18 onwards, Kejriwal said that motorists should decide to keep their vehicles parked at least once a week. “We should decide to not take out our vehicle at least once a week and travel on the metro, bus, or share vehicle with others. Experts say that if we do this, pollution can be brought down and fuel can be saved," he said.

Kejriwal also stressed that the people should download the Green Delhi mobile application and use it to report incidents of violation. “If you see pollution anywhere in Delhi -a truck causing air pollution, any industry that's causing pollution, waste being burnt- you can complain through the app," he said.

Delhi experiences one of the worst air qualities anywhere in the world every winter season and the pre-Diwali weeks this year have once again sent alarm bells ringing loud. Many factors are believed to contribute to Delhi's toxic air quality, from stubble burning by farmers in adjoining states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to vehicular emissions within Delhi and to unfavourable weather conditions which see wind speeds falling drastically.