Odd-even returning to roads near you!

It’s Gee Wheezing season. As well as the time for every Dilliwala’s favourite outdoor optics: ‘odd-even’ traffic. Starting November 13, a day after Diwali is done and dusted, the Delhi government is getting back its ‘odd-even’ car rationing scheme for a week to tackle the city’s non-Amrit Kaal air quality. GRAP 4 – not so much a name to get a grip with this Dantean hell as much as the final stage of a Graded Response Action Plan to tackle evil in the air – was introduced on Sunday when the air reached ‘severe-plus’ category. Odd-even will be an addition.

‘Odd-even’ was introduced in 2016 and implemented in 2017 and 2019. Numbers of car plates ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 are permitted on roads on odd-numbered dates, while those ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 can run on even-numbered dates. This may seem odd even to non-experts who know that a phalanx of conditions – meteorological, emission sources, crop burning, etc – cause the murkiness in the air. ‘Odd-even’, then, only contributes to the tip of the dirty pollution iceberg. But we won’t knock it. For, as we have seen in the past, roads during ‘odd-even’ – even if invisible beyond your nose – are decongested. This brings no mean psychological relief for citizens used to traffic snarls even in sparkling weather. So what if we continue to pay through our nose, mouth and lungs.