Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday launched the 'Red Light On, Gaadi Off' initiative to tackle the problem of rising air pollution in the national capital. Addressing a digital press conference Kejriwal said that there are one crore vehicles registered in Delhi, out of which if 10 lakh vehicles turn off ignition at traffic signals, around 1.5 tonnes of PM10 will reduce in a year, and the PM 2.5 will decrease by 0.4 tonnes. The initiative has been launched under the 'Yuddh, Pradushan Ke Viruddh' campaign of the Delhi government.
Kejriwal added, "The pollution in Delhi is increasing and the situation of air-pollution deteriorates in Delhi every year due to the toxic air, due to the stubble burning in the neighboring states. The stubble burning has started and with time, the number of stubble burning cases is increasing in the neighboring states. I think the toxic air becomes a bit diluted when it reaches the national capital, but the farmers who burn the stubble are the worst hit."
He said, "In the last few days, we have taken several steps inside Delhi to bring down the pollution levels in the city. We have launched an anti-dust campaign in Delhi, along with an experiment to stop stubble burning in Delhi. We are using a bio-decomposer solution developed by the Pusa Institute to stop stubble burning in the capital. We have also launched an electric vehicle policy and tree transplantation policy to combat air pollution in Delhi."
"From today, we are launching a new initiative, and we will need the cooperation of the citizens. Every time vehicles stop at a red signal, we have noticed that drivers do not turn the engine off. This is known as idling when the vehicle emits a lot of toxic air. In Delhi, there are around one crore registered vehicles. Even if we estimate that around 30-40 per cent of the vehicles come out in the streets of Delhi and cause emissions, we can imagine how polluting the air can get," the Delhi Chief Minister said.
"Today we are launching the 'Red Light On, Gaadi Off' initiative. In this campaign, we must turn our vehicles off when we are at the red signal. In Delhi, we have around one crore registered vehicles and even if 10,00,000 vehicles practice this, the pollution situation will improve inside the capital. The experts have calculated and informed me that through this initiative, the PM 10 will decrease by 1.5 tonnes and PM 2.5 will decrease by 0.4 tonnes," added Kejriwal.
"The experts have noted that when a car is in the idling mode, it emits a lot more pollutants than when the car is traveling. If the car is in idling mode for 10 seconds it emits more pollutants than if you stop the engine and then restart it. In this way, you can also save more fuel in your car. Every day, one car spends around 15 to 20 minutes at the red signal on an average. During this time one car utilizes around 200 mL of fuel. But if you switch off the engine at the red signals, you can save Rs.7000 per month."
"The situation becomes worse during winters because in summers the toxic air goes up easily. The vehicular emissions in winters stay near the surface and contribute to the air pollution of the city, which is dangerous for us. The citizens of Delhi have come together and brought down the pollution level of the capital by 25 per cent in the last five years. I am very hopeful that every citizen will join in this campaign. I will request every citizen, the bus drivers, the auto drivers, and others to cooperate in this campaign. In the coming days, we will also launch a massive awareness campaign regarding this. I want every citizen of Delhi to cooperate with us to bring down the pollution level of the national capital. This is the time of Covid pandemic and if the pollution level increases now, the situation can worsen," the Chief Minister said.
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