Red Light On, Gaadi Off: Delhi CM Kejriwal launches campaign to urge residents to turn off vehicles at Red lights

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday launched a new campaign to sensitise automobile drivers to save fuel on the traffic signals and reduce air pollution, news agency ANI reported. The campaign named ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ will sensitise people to turn off the ignition of their vehicles while they are waiting at the traffic signals across the city.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Kejriwal said that the government is launching the campaign to tackle the increasing air pollution in the city. Referring to the findings of pollution experts, the CM said that as many as 10 lakh vehicles turning their ignition off could reduce about 1.5 tonnes of PM 10 emissions in the air of the city. He further said that out of the 1 crore registered vehicles in the national capital, even a small fraction of automobile owners could make a huge difference by killing their automobile engine at the traffic signals.

The air pollution level in the national capital has already touched the ‘very poor’ category. Burning of stubble by the farmers in the neighbouring states of Delhi such as Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are understood to be the major reason before the increase in carbon emissions in the NCR region.

Vehicular emissions along with perennially going construction work are some of the major reasons for air pollution in the city. CM Kejriwal recently launched a new scheme to tackle the menace of stubble burning under which the farmers in Delhi region are being provided with a decomposer solution that would decompose the stubble without emitting the harmful emissions in the atmosphere.