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Delhi has lost the air quality gains of odd and even scheme. Delayed winter will make pollution worse if quicker steps are not taken to sustain the gains, says CSE

CSE has analysed air quality data from real-time monitoring of Delhi Pollution Control Board for the entire winter – November 2015 to January 2016 – to assess the benefits of the odd and even scheme and the loss of air quality gains after the completion of the scheme. It has found that the odd and even scheme, although limited in scope and ambit, could still slow down the peaking of pollution even when weather was hostile – no wind, lower temperature and western disturbance in the northern region. Even this benefit was lost immediately after the scheme came to an end as is evident from the air quality trends during the first three working days since the scheme ended.