GURUGRAM: The Haryana government on Tuesday decided to impose from next week the odd-even rule for vehicles in four NCR districts of the state — Gurugram, Faridabad, Jhajjar and Sonipat.
At an emergency meeting convened by additional chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal, it was also decided that government employees in 14 NCR districts of the state would work from home till November 22. Private establishments were asked to do the same. Industries, where such an arrangement is not possible, will have to take a special permission from the deputy commissioner.
In the four NCR districts, work from home had anyway been advised till November 17. On Tuesday, officials attending the meeting with Kaushal decided to extend it to all 14 NCR districts till November 22.
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These 14 districts are Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Faridabad, Gurugram, Jhajjar, Jind, Karnal, Mahendragarh, Nuh, Palwal, Panipat, Rewari, Rohtak and Sonipat.
Officials said the idea behind encouraging the work from home concept was to ensure there were fewer vehicles on the roads. “The transport department should implement the odd-even policy in at least four districts on a trial basis from next week. There will, however, be no restrictions on CNG vehicles,” an official said, quoting from the minutes of the meeting.
Air quality across NCR has deteriorated to alarming levels. On Saturday, the Supreme Court took cognisance of the foul air quality in the region and directed the Centre and the governments of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi to take urgent steps to reduce AQI levels, asking “how will people breathe?”
Apart from the restrictions, the government also decided to fine heavy vehicles that are found carrying construction material uncovered. Vehicles once challaned will not be allowed to move until the amount is paid. A drive is also being planned to phase out vehicles that are more than 10 (petrol) and 15 (diesel) years old.
Deputy commissioner Yash Garg said he would implement all the decisions taken at the meeting on Tuesday.
“Decisions on mitigating pollution are being taken by the higher authorities. We will implement the odd-even rule in keeping with the rule. Now that most people are working from home, it should not be too difficult to implement the scheme,” he added.
The Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and adjoining areas (CAQM), meanwhile, carried out a meeting with representatives of Haryana and other NCR states on Tuesday to discuss the action plan on how to jointly deal with the deteriorating air quality.
“We are preparing a short affidavit on the action we have undertaken and what we plan to do. We will submit the affidavit to the Supreme Court and CAQM. We have included all the decisions that were taken at the meeting, such as the implementation of the odd-even scheme and extension of work from home,” said S. Narayana, a member secretary of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB).
However, many HSPCB officials hoped that the AQI would improve again after reaching the “severe” levels. “Our AQI has improved from severe to very poor. We are hopeful that it will improve further if construction activities are stopped completely. AQI, however, depends on meteorological conditions as well. In addition to the restrictions, the weather conditions should also be by our side,” said Kuldeep Singh, the regional officer at HSPCB.
