Indian capital to restrict cars to curb choking smog

India's capital announced new measures Friday to fight extreme air pollution that has earned it the title of world's most polluted city from the World Health Organization. 

From Jan. 1, for several weeks, private cars will be allowed on New Delhi's roads only on alternate days, depending on whether their license plates end in even or odd numbers, said Kewal Kumar Sharma, the city's chief secretary. The city's pollution peaks during the cold winter months, which runs from November through February or March.  

The decision to restrict private cars came two days after India's environmental court ordered the Delhi government to come up with a strategy to tackle the smog that has settled over the city in recent weeks.

The city also plans to shut down one of its oldest and least efficient thermal power plants. The Badarpur plant, commissioned in the early 1970s, uses outdated equipment and often breaks down.

Traffic police will also be told to ensure that diesel-guzzling trucks, which transit the city at night, enter only after 11 p.m. Currently, trucks are allowed to enter the city at 9 p.m., often resulting in massive traffic jams.

It was not immediately clear when the measures would take effect or exactly how long they would continue.

Sharma said the government also plans to buy special vacuum cleaning equipment to clean the roads and reduce the dust that shrouds the city. That measure will be in place by April, he said.

The announcement came a day after the Delhi High Court upbraided the city's government for the "alarming" air pollution levels in the capital city. Earlier this year the city ordered all private cars older than 10 years to be taken off the roads, becoming the second major city in the world to do so after Beijing.

Last year, the World Health Organization named the Indian capital as the world's most polluted, with 12 other Indian cities ranking among the worst 20.

In November and early December the city's air quality slumped to hazardous levels, with levels of PM2.5 pollutants, the very fine particles that get lodged inside the lungs and cause the most damage, soaring to 12 times above WHO's safety level of 25 micrograms per cubic meter.

The city has been blanketed in gray smog, and while there is no reliable data on respiratory diseases, most doctors in the capital report a sharp spike in pollution-related illness during the winter months.

Successive Delhi governments have faced flak for failing to clean up the filthy air. The issue has been in the spotlight this week as negotiators from 195 nations haggle in Paris over a planned universal accord to slash the greenhouse-gas emissions that trap the Sun's heat.

India has said poor countries cannot be expected to make the shift away from cheap and abundant fossil fuels at the expense of struggling populations, many of whom do not even have access to electricity.

Environmental campaigners welcomed the Delhi government's plan, but said it would be tough to implement.

"I think it [government] has taken the serious measures that are needed to deal with Delhi's air, we have an emergency-type situation and I'm glad the government is stepping in," Sunita Narain, the head of the Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment, said on the NDTV news channel. 

Wire services