Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Wednesday said the Delhi government will implement the odd-even car rationing scheme after the Supreme Court reviews its effectiveness.

The top court on Tuesday questioned the effectiveness of the scheme, aimed at curbing vehicular pollution, and referred to it as “all optics.”  

Amid worsening air quality in the national capital, Mr Rai had earlier announced the flagship scheme, under which cars are allowed to operate on alternate days based on their odd or even number plates, would be enforced between November 13 and November 20.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Rai said the city government will submit two major studies conducted to ascertain the effectiveness of the scheme for the perusal of the Supreme Court.

“A call will be taken to implement the odd-even scheme only after the Supreme Court reviews its effectiveness and issues an order,” the minister said. 

The odd-even car rationing scheme, introduced in 2016, allows cars to operate on alternate days based on their odd or even number plates. The enforcement next week will mark the fourth time that the Delhi government has used this scheme to address pollution caused by vehicles. 

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar attended a fair disguised as a watchman in Panchkula on Tuesday evening. A video showing him taking a stroll in the Sector-5 Dussehra Ground had gone viral on social media.

The Chief Minister’s media secretary later confirmed that it was indeed Mr Khattar who showed up at the mela grounds in the attire of a watchman.

There was no security cordon for the Chief Minister as he roamed freely.

He used a scarf to hide his identity and a cap that completed his watchman attire. He made rounds in the mela grounds – sometimes holding a packet of chips and sometimes engrossed into his phone.

The plan seemed successful as no one could be seen approaching him at the fair.

Chief Ministers are guarded by the state police and get central security cover based on their threat perception.

New Delhi’s pollution levels continue to be in the severe category forcing authorities to impose emergency measures, including traffic curbs and shutting schools. The drastic air quality is a result of a cocktail of factors, the chief contributors being vehicular emissions and smoke from crop burning in neighbouring states.

NASA’s Worldview satellite has captured how the toxic smog extends from Pakistan to the Bay of Bengal. The smog is coupled with a sharp rise in farm fires in North India, shows the satellite data.

NASA data shows that the number of farm fires has seen a sharp rise since October 29. The state saw a 740 per cent increase on October 29 with 1,068 farm fire incidents – the highest in a single day in the current harvesting season.

With the air quality index as high as 500 in some areas on Wednesday morning, New Delhi has topped the chart of the world’s most polluted cities for the last six days. Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), a set of anti-pollution guidelines, has been invoked and diesel trucks and construction activities have been banned in the national capital.

The Supreme Court has asked the governments of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to urgently discuss with the Centre how to stop the farm fires. The court has said it cannot allow this to become a political battle, stressing that the choking air quality is responsible for the “murder of people’s health”.