Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday appealed to motorists to switch off their engines at traffic signals as part of a government campaign to reduce local factors contributing to air pollution in the Capital.
Mr. Kejriwal said the “Red light on, gaadi (car) off” campaign could lead to significant reductions in pollution levels even if 10% of the total vehicular users of the city participated in the campaign.
“While we can’t do much about what is happening in neighbouring States, we are launching a campaign today to address the issue of air pollution the best we can locally,” Mr. Kejriwal said during a digital briefing.
“There are 1 crore vehicles registered in Delhi; scientists have told me that even if 10 lakh vehicles switch their engines off at red light signals it can massively reduce both PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels per year,” he also said.
According to Mr. Kejriwal, there could be a reduction of 1.4 tonnes in PM 10 and 0.4 tonnes in PM 2.5 levels if 10 lakh vehicles became part of the campaign.
Since each vehicle spends at least an estimated 15 to 20 minutes at traffic signals per day in the city, switching off the engine could lead to savings of around 200 ml of fuel per day amounting to a possible reduction of ₹7,000 on fuel expenses per year per vehicle.
“I appeal to all vehicles drivers: truck, car, two wheeler drivers, everyone to please participate in this campaign; we will be launching a massive awareness campaign on this in the city over the coming days, please help us to reduce pollution locally by participating,” he said.