With an aim to encourage use of public transport among commuters amid rising air pollution levels in the city, the Delhi Cabinet approved a proposal by which one can avail 10 per cent discount on using common mobility card (metro card) in DTC cluster buses. The decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting on Thursday. "This was necessary in view of rising air pollution to encourage more and more people to use public transport," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said. The metro card usage started in DTC cluster buses on August 24. He further appealed to the Central government and the governments of Haryana and Punjab to initiate measures in the wake of deteriorating air quality in north India, including Delhi. "The Centre should intervene. Farmers have not been given subsidy. This is the failure on the part of the central government and state governments. As December and January is nearing, the entire north India, including Delhi, is close to becoming a gas chamber," he said. Sisodia said the government since last year has made several efforts which improved Delhi's air quality and had requested the Centre as well as the governments of Punjab and Haryana to take measures in this regard, but despite assurances, the air quality has deteriorated. The air quality of Delhi remained "very poor" for the second consecutive day Thursday, with several areas in the national capital nearing severe levels of pollution, according to authorities. The overall AQI of Delhi was recorded at 315, according to the Centre-run System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research. The AQI Wednesday for the first time this season was recorded at 315. The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which prescribes a set of measures to curb air pollution based on the Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) daily Air Quality Index (AQI), is already in effect in the national capital since Monday

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