According to Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai, the ‘red light on, gaadi off’ campaign, which was scheduled to begin in the capital on Friday, has been postponed because the LG has yet to give its sanction.
“The ‘red light on, gaadi off’ campaign has been successful in previous years. The month-long campaign was set to be launched tomorrow for this year but no approval has been received so far. The file was sent to LG on October 21,” At a press conference on Thursday, Rai said.
The initiative was started by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government in October 2020, and as part of it, officials asked commuters to turn off their cars while they waited at traffic lights.
This year, the campaign was supposed to start on Friday, and the first phase was supposed to last until November 28.
On October 21, Rai announced that 2,500 civil defence personnel would be used to manage the operation. She also stated that the drive would run for 10 hours each day, with the first shift lasting from 8 am to 2 pm and the second from 2 pm to 8 pm.
Following the lighting of fireworks in celebration of Diwali, the air quality in Delhi has declined recently. But Delhi reported the cleanest post-Diwali air since 2015. Due to the lack of wind and the cool weather on Thursday, the air quality fell into the very low category. The air quality index (AQI), which was 262 on Wednesday morning at 8:10am, was now at 333. The AQI was at 312 at 4pm on Monday, Diwali.
