Public Works Department minister Satyendar Jain has said that the Delhi government will consult people on the odd-even scheme, and also take into account the experiences of the first two phases, before announcing the next round.
He mentioned that the government has also undertaken a series of measures to curb pollution, both from vehicles and dust, including marking dedicated bus lanes, and vacuum cleaning the roads; the PWD is also planning to cover the soil around these roads with grass, in order to curb pollution from dust particles.
The minister also lashed out at those who claimed that pollution had increased during odd-even scheme period.“If the diesel and pollution consumption has gone down by 30 per cent, how can the pollution rise? To fail odd-even, some people say that pollution has increased due to it. This is wrong. Our government is new and we don’t have any baggage. We can even fail and we are ready to take failures.”
“Many big people are not ready to take failure. We are starters, so we don’t have any issues in learning. And if we have to do it again then we will ask you, learn from past experiences and we will do it only then,” he said.
Jain is also the Power Minister, and said that the government has also taken steps to curb pollution coming from power companies. “The Rajghat {coal-based} power plant has already been shut. Of the five units of the Badarapur power plant, three have been shut. We have also written to the Uttar Pradesh government about Dadri power plant,” he said.