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Title: Study shows Delhi’s odd-even scheme had little impact on air pollution
Source:The Hindu Business Line
Date:10 May 2017

A vehicle rationing briefly introduced in 2016 by the Delhi government to cut down toxic pollutants in the city air may have had a negligible impact on the levels of ultrafine particulate matter, PM2.5, which is linked to premature mortality, a scientific analysis has shown. The scientists who studied the first odd-even experiment, which lasted 15 days from January 1, 2016, found that there was only a marginal drop in the PM2.5 levels during the period. While the levels of the toxic particles came down by 8 to 10 per cent in some pockets, the rest of the capital recorded a drop of only 2 to 3 per cent. The study was published online in the journal Environmental Science and Policy early in May 2017. The PM2.5 levels in Delhi, particularly in winter months, are on average three times higher than 60 micrograms per cubic metre which the World Health Organisation has declared as permissible limit. A recent study by two of the authors of the present paper IIT Delhi researchers Mr Sourangsu Chowdhury and Mr Sagnik Dey exposure to alarmingly high levels of PM2.5 are responsible for approximately 12,000 premature deaths in Delhi every year.




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