New Delhi gears up for car ban to cut smog

Police and volunteers will monitor vehicles at checkpoints across city

Millions of Delhi residents will have to find alternative ways to work beginning on Friday, when authorities launch a trial of draconian traffic restrictions to try to clean up the world's most polluted capital.

Private cars will be banned from the roads on alternate days from Jan 1 as part of a slew of measures aimed at reducing smog levels that include shutting some coal-fired power plants and vacuuming roads to reduce dust.