Residents of Ghaziabad on the outskirts of Delhi, and lying within the National Capital Region, are hoping to encourage motorists to take to carpooling and reduce pollution.
The federation of Residents Welfare Associations (RWA), which declared the 10th of every month as “a car-free day” has been working in tandem with officials to encourage residents to leave their cars behind at least once a month.
On Thursday, the city observed the second car-free day, with the district administration arranging for additional buses from the UP State Road Transport Corporation. According to a spokesperson of the UPSRTC, eight additional buses had been deployed for the convenience of passengers travelling to the Kaushambi Metro station.
Private bus operators had also been roped in to operate more buses from residential colonies to the metro station. Volunteers from various RWAs encouraged motorists to either abstain from using their cars, or to opt for carpooling.
Many areas of the NCR experience high atmospheric pollution levels because of the large number of motor vehicles that are on the roads. The Supreme Court had a few weeks earlier imposed a temporary ban on the sale of diesel vehicles above a certain capacity.
The Delhi government had also introduced an experimental odd-even scheme, which saw at least half of private cars off the roads.
Source : BS Motoring