New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to reconsider the ‘Red light on, Gaadi off’ campaign, questioning the effectiveness of such an “ad-hoc” measure as the national capital reels under high air pollution level, sources said on Saturday.
Environment Minister Gopal Rai said the Delhi government will answer all questions raised by the LG on the campaign and resubmit the file for his approval. He also accused the LG of doing politics over an issue concerning the lives of residents of Delhi.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi had earlier attacked the LG, alleging that delay in approving the proposal had forced it to postpone the October 28 launch of the campaign.
But sources in the LG office claimed that city Environment Minister Gopal Rai had lied as the file sent by the chief minister mentioned the date of launch as October 31.
The LG also asked Kejriwal and his ministers to refrain from publicity on issues of public importance.
“I am constrained to mention that such frivolous behaviour entailing baseless allegations, false accusations and political insinuations, on part of a minister is unbecoming, to say the least.
“That it was done against a Constitutional Authority, solely for political oneupmanship and publicity is extremely improper and unfortunate. This type of publicity must be avoided and the minister should be advised to be cautious in such issues of public importance,” a source quoted the LG as saying.
The month-long ‘Red light on, Gaadi off’ campaign aims at encouraging drivers to turn off the ignition of their vehicles while waiting at traffic signals.
“The LG has sent the file to Chief Minister Kejriwal with the advice to reconsider the proposal,” the source said.
The LG objected to the “inhuman” and “exploitative use” of Civil Defence Volunteers (CDVs) at extremely polluted traffic intersections and sites, the source said.
The basic premise of the campaign which seeks to risk the health of few individuals on the assumption of protecting the health of many is faulty and does not appear to have any parallel in any other civilised metropolitan city, the LG office sources said.
Moreover, any effective and sustainable solution to this longstanding problem will involve technological interventions and not ad hoc steps, year after year.
“In the long run technological solutions need to be found for enforcement of such measures, rather than deploying humans and putting them at risk,” the source said.
The LG has also highlighted that the outcome” of the previous campaigns is not reflected in the proposal and there is no impact assessment report provided to support the effectiveness of the earlier campaigns in improving air quality in the city.
“Also, the multiple risks posed to the safety and health of the volunteers proposed to be deployed at the traffic cross sections under the campaign, merits serious attention,” a source said.
He further observed that even though air pollution threatens everyone, the poor and marginalised sections of society bear a greater and disproportionate impact of the pollution, often created by those who are well off.
“The deployment of CD volunteers under the proposed campaign seems to reinforce and perpetuate the same inequality, which is unfortunate and in contravention of the basic right to life and equality,” the LG opined, according to the source.
The LG also noted that the proposal was pending at the level of the chief minister for more than 10 days from October 12 to October 21 and the file was received in his office only on October 21.
He said that the people of Delhi who suffer the most due to air pollution are aware and alert citizens, who are conscious of their duties and will undertake any measure on their own.
Later in the day, Rai said: “We will give written answers to all queries raised by the LG and resubmit the file (for approval)… We hope that he will make a positive decision on the issue soon.”
“We conducted the campaign in 2020 and 2021 after carefully studying all available information,” he said.
The minister said a study conducted by the Central Road Research Institute showed that 9,036 litres of diesel, petrol and LPG and 5461 kg of CNG are wasted at 950 traffic signals every day in Delhi.
A study conducted by UrbanEmissions.info, an environmental research organisation, showed more than 17,000 tonnes of PM10 is emitted at traffic signals in Pune, Rai said.
“Delhi has four to five times the number of vehicles in Pune which means 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes of PM10 is emitted at traffic signals in Delhi,” he said, adding the purpose of the campaign was to reduce this emission.
“Now, the launch of the campaign on October 31 is also unlikely,” Rai said.
Under the campaign, first launched on October 16, 2020, to cut down vehicular pollution in the national capital, drivers are encouraged to switch off their vehicles while waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
Earlier, AAP workers had protested at the LG House over the pending approval to the campaign.
AAP MLA Shri Dilip Pandey said, “The LG will have to pass the file of the Red Light On, Gaadi Off campaign or else lakhs of people will protest against him. Adopting a dictatorial attitude, the LG stopped the file by pressuring the officials.”
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Neha Khan | 
