Sky clear, no need for odd-even now: Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi, Nov 18: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said there is no need to reintroduce the odd-even scheme in the national capital as the weather in the capital has cleared up.

"The sky is clear now, so there is no need of it," Kejriwal said.

To avoid traffic congestion and pollution, the AAP government had introduced the odd-even scheme on 4th November.

Under the rule, non-transport vehicles having odd and even last digits of registration number ply on odd and even dates, respectively. The Delhi government has claimed a high percentage of compliance of the scheme by motorists in the city.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier said a total of 4,309 challans were issued against violators of the scheme, officials said.

According to official data, 475 challans were issued by the teams of traffic police(276), transport (139) and revenue (60) departments from 8 AM to 8 PM, when the restrictions were in force, on Thursday.

On Monday, the air quality in the national capital improved marginally but remained in the "poor" category for the second consecutive day.

At 9 am on Monday, the Air Quality Index (ADI) in Delhi stood at 207 against an AQI of 254 at the same time on Sunday.

The Supreme Court has pulled up the Arvind Kejriwal government over its odd-even scheme, saying it is "half-baked" and despite its implementation, air quality in Delhi-NCR continues to be severe.

Odd-Even was not a long-term solution to Delhi-NCR's air crisis and that "public transport should have been strengthened", the top court noted.

The flagship scheme of Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government was implemented in Delhi for the third time. The scheme was first implemented for 15 days from January 1 to 15 and then from April 15 to 30 in 2016.