Delhi Prime Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched a new anti-pollution campaign on Thursday whereby people will be encouraged to turn off their vehicle engines while waiting at traffic lights.
On Thursday, pollution levels in the city remained in the “very poor” category. “Today we will start a new campaign. It has been seen that we often do not turn off the engines of our vehicles while waiting at traffic lights. The ‘Red Light On Gaadi Off’ campaign will aim to achieve a behavioral change in this regard. It will help reduce air pollution, ”Kejriwal said at a video news conference.
He added: “Around 10 million vehicles are registered in Delhi. Even if 1 million of them actively follow the campaign, experts suggest that it can reduce PM 10 emissions by 1.5 tons per year and PM 2.5 emissions by 0.4 tons per year ”.
“Idling (waiting at a traffic light with the engine running) consumes more fuel than normal driving. On average, a car spends between 15 and 20 minutes idling per day and ends up using at least 200 ml of fuel. Experts have suggested that one can save 7,000 rupees a year by avoiding that, ”said the prime minister.
While calling on all motorists in the city to join the campaign, Kejriwal said: “Covid-19 has caused anguish among the people, let’s make sure the pollution doesn’t make things worse for us.”
“Burning crop stubble in neighboring states creates pollution in Delhi. It has been like this for years. We cannot do much for other states, but we are taking all possible measures to control local sources of pollution: strategy against dust, policy of transplanting trees, policy of electric vehicles and decomposition of crop stubble through new technologies . This campaign will be one more step towards reducing pollution ”, he said.
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