A day after the Supreme Court pulled up the governments of Delhi, Haryana and Punjab for the increasing air pollution in the national capital, and asked them to take concrete actions in this regard, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said Wednesday that the court has directed to stop app-based taxis from entering Delhi. He also said that the state government will submit a report on the effectiveness of the odd-even scheme to the Supreme Court, and will take a decision based on the court’s directions.
"We had decided to implement the odd-even scheme from November 13…on odd-even, we have had two studies—one by Harvard University and the University of Chicago and the other by Delhi Technological University. These reports will be submitted to the Supreme Court," said Rai at a press conference in Delhi.
Speaking further, Rai thanked the apex court for giving orders to restart important projects stopped by Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC). The court has directed to restart the functioning of the smog tower by Thursday when the real-time source apportionment study will also resume.
"Honorable Supreme Court issued the order after giving the report of UP, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi on pollution. Instructions were issued to implement in Delhi. I wholeheartedly thank the honourable Supreme Court for giving orders to restart the important projects stopped by DPCC," said Raid at the press conference.
He accused the governments of UP, Haryana, and Punjab of "sitting idle" on the issue and urged them to hold a joint meeting to come up with a solution.
"Governments all around Delhi are sitting idle, it is expected that after the order of the Honorable SC, these governments and the Center will hold a joint meeting. Delhi banned firecrackers, but other governments are neither ready to listen nor do anything," said Rai.
Meanwhile, a statement from app cab aggregator Uber read: "While we haven’t received any order from the transport department, we want to reiterate that all the cars on the Uber platform in Delhi are run on CNG or are powered by electricity and shared mobility helps more people commute in fewer cars."