New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS): Efforts are being made to reduce the increasing pollution levels in the national capital by improving the transport system in the state. The Delhi government believes that by improving the transport system as well as reducing traffic jams, harmful particles such as PM10 and PM2.5 which cause air pollution could be reduced by up to 5 million tonnes.

Delhi's public transport system and electric vehicle policy could prove to be a significant step in this direction. The Electric Vehicle policy focuses on making electric vehicles to 25 per cent by 2024 whereas till now this number is just 0.2 per cent. The clarity about the necessary measures to be taken for the transformation of electric vehicles has enabled the Delhi government to take concrete decisions.

Delhi's Electric Vehicle Policy would reduce carbon emissions by 4.8 million tonnes by 2024, said Jasmin Shah, Vice-Chairman of the Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission.

At the same time, to make the public transport system more effective, the Delhi government is adding 1,000 low floor AC buses to the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus fleet. The new fleet of buses would also be used to reduce traffic jams in south, central and east Delhi. Such routes in Delhi would be identified where there is a need to strengthen the public transport system. This step by the Delhi government would not only solve the problem of traffic jams here but would also reduce the pollution caused by traffic jams.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi government is committed to making Delhi pollution-free by creating a world class public transport system.

The Delhi government officially released information and said that if the drivers stop their vehicles only at the red light, by doing so they would reduce pollution caused by 1.5 lakh tonnes of PM 10 while in PM 2.5, there would be a reduction of 0.4 lac tonnes. The Delhi government would train all the drivers associated with the public transport system for achieving this step.

DTC's fleet is going to add new buses after 12 years. Chief Minister Kejriwal said all such new buses would ply on the Delhi roads by September 20 this year. The total number of buses in DTC's fleet would now reach an all-time high of 7,693.

In the last two years, 1,681 new buses have been added to the bus fleet in Delhi. These buses would be equipped with BS-6 standard compliance, air-conditioned buses with real-time passenger information system, CCTVs, panic buttons, GPS and other facilities.