Delhi Government’s New Mission to Combat Pollution: ‘Red light on, Gaadi off’ Campaign

Delhi’s Environment Minister, Gopal Rai, strongly criticized BJP leaders for their baseless remarks concerning the alleged halting of the Delhi Government Real-time Source Apportionment Study by the DPCC chairman.

“People of the BJP give statements as if they do not know anything about it. Yesterday, several illogical statements came from BJP leaders. One of the leaders said that when the study stopped in February, Gopal Rai was saying that pollution had decreased. Let me inform them that the process to stop the study began in February, but it actually ended in October,” Rai said

“I think they either do not listen or just read out text written by someone else. Another leader asked how can an officer allocate funds beyond what is mentioned in the budget. It is already mentioned in the budget that Rs 12 crore is allocated for this,” he added.

In response to inquiries regarding the escalating pollution levels in the national capital, Gopal Rai emphasized the implementation of a ‘Red Light on, Gaadi Off’ campaign as a strategy to combat air pollution, particularly with the overall air quality marked as ‘poor’ on Thursday morning.

“In the next phase of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), eco-friendly bus service will be started. The work to introduce this bus service has already begun,” the Delhi Minister said.

The ‘Red Light on, Gaadi Off’ campaign, urging drivers to switch off their engines at traffic signals, is a concerted effort to curb pollution stemming from idling vehicles at red lights. The initiative comes as the overall air quality in the national capital is registered in the ‘poor’ category, with an AQI of 256, according to SAFAR-India data. To counter the pollution crisis, water was sprayed using an anti-smog gun in the Anand Vihar area. SAFAR data reaffirmed that Delhi’s air quality remains in the ‘poor’ category, with a recorded AQI of 316 around Delhi University in the morning hours. Meanwhile, neighboring areas like Noida reported an AQI of 269 (poor) and Gurugram marked 176 (moderate).

Despite the persistent issue of stubble burning in parts of Punjab and Haryana, the current farm fire incidents appear to be relatively lower compared to the figures of the previous two years, although over 2,500 cases have been reported this year.

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