L-G, Delhi govt agree to disagree on odd-even plan

NEW DELHI:  In a series of face-offs involving the L-G and the Delhi government, the latest is the odd-even vehicle scheme. The L-G office says the government is misleading the public and the Supreme Court by announcing the scheme, but not following it up on paper.

Raj Niwas officials said on Tuesday that the decision to implement the odd-even scheme was announced verbally but was deferred by the Delhi government on paper. The officials cite a file moved by the environment department on October 16 where the odd-even policy, including work-from-home for all government offices, and closure of schools were proposed as measures to manage rising pollution levels.

The proposals were approved by Environment Minister Gopal Rai and were forwarded to the CM’s office. While a test of the measures was approved, the final decision was deferred by the CM on the odd-even policy. “They (Rai and Kejriwal) wanted a decision on the implementation (of odd-even) to be taken after the advice of experts,” said a senior L-G House official.

However, the file was re-submitted by the environment department on November 3 when the AQI plummeted. It was forwarded to the CMO the same day but no decision was made. A Delhi government official said the L-G is in fact being misled. The government said the move was taken after the GRAP-IV was enforced on November 5.