NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Friday announced the return of the odd-even scheme in the capital from November 4 to 15 as part of a seven-point action plan against pollution this winter. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the odd-even scheme was simply an emergency measure that was being implemented in advance, keeping in mind the high pollution that may occur during this period, owing to Diwali and stubble burning."Studies have shown that odd-even has led to a reduction in pollution by 10 to 13 per cent. Pollution is at its peak during this period due to stubble burning and Diwali firecrackers. The details of its implementation and the exemptions will be announced in a few days," said Kejriwal.Hours after Kejriwal made the announcement, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari said the move was not required."Now there is no such need (odd-even scheme) because the new Ring Road we have built is helping reduce pollution in Delhi to a certain extent. Besides, my ministry is pursuing road works of about Rs 50,000 crore. Cleaning of Yamuna and other works to curb pollution are also under way," he said."I think Delhi will be pollution free in two years time," he asserted.The seven-point action plan also includes distribution of free N-95 masks, which Kejriwal said could start by October. “We are already in the process of acquiring them and the masks would be distributed free of cost before the smoke from stubble burning starts reaching Delhi.”Kejriwal said the third component of the action plan centred around Diwali, encouraging people not to burst firecrackers this time around and to obey the Supreme Court order on firecrackers. To encourage a cracker-free Diwali, he said the Delhi government will be holding laser-shows a day before Diwali where people can come and take part, free of cost.The Delhi government has also identified 12 pollution hotspots in the capital, which will require separate action plans to bring down pollution in those areas. Kejriwal said a war-room was also being developed for receiving environment complaints. “Action against any violators will all be taken from the war room.”The other components of the action plan include water sprinkling on a large scale, working with MCDs to carry out mechanised sweeping, deploying two environment marshalls in each ward to keep a tab on polluting activities and the announcement of a free-sapling distribution scheme. “We are calling this the Delhi Tree challenge. We will soon provide people with a number where they can SMS or call and we will deliver free saplings at your home. This is a long-term campaign,” said Kejriwal.The Delhi chief minister also said long-term measures were already under way, including the procurement of 4,000 buses in the next 8-10 months, a bus aggregator policy which will be notified soon and route rationalisation. “If you take out the odd-even and the Diwali action point, we have five remaining points which will be the Delhi winter action plan,” said Kejriwal.“The metro phase IV is also being developed. We will also notify the electric vehicle policy very soon, which will also see 1000 electric buses be procured by us. Route rationalisation is another long-term measure that will help us control pollution,” he added.