Delhi Pollution: Odd and even number vehicles to be on roads on alternate days from January 2016

Taking a major step to counter the deadly pollution levels in the national capital, the Delhi government has decided to allow odd and even number vehicles to be on the roads on alternate days, starting from January 2015.

According to NDTV, the restriction however won't apply to public vehicles.

The decision of the government came after a day when the Delhi High Court raised concerns over the foul air quality and said that living in the city is like "living in a gas chamber".

The Court also directed the Centre and the Delhi government to submit time bound action plans on tackling pollution by the next hearing on December 21.

On 2 December, the National Green Tribunal had slammed the Delhi government for not acting "seriously" on the mounting pollution problem. The NGT had also directed the Delhi government to issue a notification within a week listing the most polluted areas in the city.

In seven out of 10 monitoring stations of the Central Pollution Control Board across Delhi, PM 2.5 was found to be the major pollutant. The permissible limit for PM 2.5 is 60 micro grams per cubic metre, which the court was referring to.

The Delhi Traffic Police, in an affidavit filed in the High Court on 3 December, said it has identified 14 places in Delhi where pollution levels are high due to large volumes of vehicular traffic. These locations include the road from IIT flyover to Panchsheel, Ashram and the stretch from Gurgaon to Dhaula Kuan.