The pollution in Delhi is poised to come down significantly with the opening of a stretch of the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway.

53 km stretch of the 136 km of the expressway connects NH-2, Mathura Road at Kuslipur in Palwal with Panchgam village on NH-8, Delhi-Jaipur road, near Manesar in Gurgaon district, making commute shorter between the two districts. Traffic from Mathura and Agra, especially diesel trucks, headed for Gurgaon, Manesar or Jaipur can now use this route instead of entering Delhi and vice versa. It will also reduce congestion in the capital significantly. Moreover, owing to improved connectivity, real estate is also set to get a big boost in the region.

The completion of the expressway has been delayed by seven years. Earlier this year, the Delhi state government experimented with the odd-even car rationing scheme to try and control pollution in the national capital. The odd-even formula turned out to be a huge success in traffic management. Pollution levels, though, did not come down significantly.

The second round of the odd-even scheme will begin from April 15 and continue till the end of the month.