Nitin Gadkari says ; Will work with Kejriwal govt to solve Delhi’s traffic, pollution mess.
Nitin Gadkari said today that Centre will work together with Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government to ensure that the air pollution, which has reached alarming levels, comes down substantially.
The Narendra Modi government at the Centre has said that it will work together with the Delhi government to curb the rising air pollution and also come out with a solution for the national capital’s traffic mess.
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said today that Centre will work together with Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government to ensure that the air pollution, which has reached alarming levels, comes down substantially.
“We will identify the black spots of Delhi and also inform the Delhi government. We will jointly solve this traffic jam problem,” Gadkari told reporters today. Gadkari’s car was stuck in a jam for over 2 hours near Mahipalpur in Delhi on Monday night infuriating the minister.
Gadkari’s statement comes just a day after Chief Justice of India TS Thakur backed the AAP government’s proposed odd-even car formula for Delhi. Welcoming the government’s decision, Justice Thakur said all steps should be taken to make the air of the city clean and pollution free.
The Delhi government has announced that from the start of 2016, private vehicles with odd registration numbers will ply on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and with even numbers on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Both the odd and even-numbered cars will be allowed to ply on Sundays, the AAP government announced on Monday, adding that it is the “responsibility” of the Delhi Police to implement the formula to curb air pollution in the national capital.
The decision came after repeated warnings that Delhi’s air pollution had breached tolerable limits. Last week, the Delhi High Court had observed that “living in Delhi was akin to living in a gas chamber.”
However, the Kejriwal government seems to be confused over how it will implement its even-odd formula. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has also been filed challenging the whole concept in the Delhi High Court.
Advocate RK Kapoor filed the petition claiming that the state government did not do its homework before announcing the new policy. “The government should have brought its research work in to the public domain and could have sensitised the Delhiites on their upcoming move.”
