To control the ever-worsening pollution and traffic in India’s national capital, the Indian Government has declared that the city will observe it’s first ‘car free day’ on October 22nd. The stretch between Red fort and India Gate would be declared car free on that day. Delhi is following Gurgaon’s footsteps which declared every Tuesday as ‘car free’ to encourage people about the benefits of using public transport and to curb the horrible traffic which occurs every morning in the Delhi Gurgaon Highway stretching over 10 kilometers.
Transport Minister Gopal Rai asked the Traffic Police and transport department to work out the modalities for making the stretch car-free for a day. The government is also planning to observe the 22nd of every month as car-free day and work towards making Delhi congestion-free.
“Only public transport will be allowed on this stretch. This will be a humble beginning towards getting people to use public transport, thereby reducing Delhi’s pollution levels,” said Rai.
The Government also has a meeting scheduled on 8th October 2015 to discuss about the promotion of public transport and car pooling. Government is taking support from various organisations including Transport Department, Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) and Delhi Traffic Police to determine the highly congested areas of Delhi.
“A concerted effort is the only way to ensure that Delhi’s air remains less hazardous,” said Rai.
Public Awareness Campaigns.
In order to make people know about Delhi’s pollution , traffic and road safety concerns, the Government is also planning to organizing various campaigns involving volunteers, students and NGO’s.
“We will use nukkad nataks, involve volunteers and promote the campaign on social media to make it a success,” said the minister Gopal Rai, who has also asked officials to think of a name for the campaign.
The government also said it would launch an mobile application called ‘Puchho’, which can be used by people to call a cab or auto-rickshaw. The officials concerned have been told to collate data regarding auto-rickshaws and taxis, which can be uploaded on to the app
Most Polluted City of the World.
13 of the most polluted cities are present in India
Delhi has the unwanted honour of being the most polluted city of the world, overtaking Beijing.The air of Delhi is 21 times more polluted than the standard limit prescribed by the World Health Organisation. Infact 13 of the top 20 polluted cities are present in India rising grave concerns about the quality of air we breathe everyday.Pollution is a silent killer and results upto 1.3 million deaths in India every year.
