Capital to Postpone Odd-Even Rule, Delhi Government Waiting for Review of Supreme Court

There is a problem of heavy air pollution in Delhi for the last few days. To deal with this, the Delhi government had announced the implementation of odd-even rule for vehicles from 13 to 20 November. This rule can be postponed. The Delhi government said on Wednesday that it will wait for the review by the Supreme Court regarding the impact of this step.

GRAP 4 is already in force in the capital, which is a high alert regarding pollution. A media Report According to, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai has indicated that the odd-even rule can be avoided. He said that the Delhi government will decide the next step in this regard after the Supreme Court reviews the impact of the odd-even rule and issues an order on it. The Supreme Court had said on Tuesday that the odd-even rule does not help much in reducing pollution. This rule was last implemented in 2019. Its purpose was to reduce pollution caused by vehicles. It allows vehicles with registration ending with odd or even numbers to be on the road on alternate days.

Recently, Gopal Rai had written a letter to Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav requesting to ban the entry of such vehicles in the capital which do not follow BS6 norms. Rule Under the rule, two-wheelers and cars with even numbers on their registration plates are allowed on the roads on one day and odd numbers on another. However, some vehicles are exempted from this rule. These include emergency vehicles, VVIP vehicles and electric vehicles. There is no specific data available to show that this rule reduces pollution levels.

The main reason for the bad air quality in Delhi and its surrounding cities is the burning of stubble in the fields after harvesting in Haryana and Punjab. A study conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board about four years ago found that the pollution level had decreased a bit before and after the odd-even scheme, but there was no major reason behind it.