No fuel for overage vehicles after March 31, announces new Delhi government

NEW DELHI, March 1: In a move aimed at combating air pollution, the Delhi government announced on Saturday that from April 1, fuel pumps in the national capital will not provide petrol and diesel to vehicles older than 15 and 10 years, respectively.
Fuel pumps would be equipped with devices to identify overage vehicles and restrict fuel supply to them, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said after a high-level meeting with officials to discuss anti-pollution measures.
The move aims to curb vehicular emissions and put a check on air pollution in the city which remains a persistent challenge for the residents.
Talking to reporters, the minister said the Delhi government would inform the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas about the decision and the ministry would, in turn, notify the fuel pump owners.
The city has around 500 petrol-diesel stations.
“We are setting up gadgets at our petrol pumps that will identify vehicles older than 15 years. They will not be provided fuel,” Sirsa said.
A senior official of the Delhi government told PTI that diesel-run vehicles older than 10 years will also be denied fuel after March 31.
According to rough estimates, there are around 55 lakh overage vehicles, 66 per cent of which are two-wheelers and 54 per cent four-wheelers, the officer said.
Giving more details about the implementation of new rules, the officer said many fuel stations in Delhi have already installed AI-enabled cameras to check violations of pollution under control (PUC) certificate rules.
“These cameras currently detect vehicles which do not have PUC certificate and the fuel pump staff deny fuel to such vehicles. We can also use these AI-enabled cameras to detect the age of particular vehicles. For this, we need to upgrade our system,” the officer added.
He said the fuel pumps which currently do not have such devices will have them installed soon.
Moreover, the Delhi government will deploy teams to identify overage vehicles and ensure they are either prevented from entering the city or removed if already present.
The government’s decision aligns with a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that banned diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years in Delhi. A 2014 National Green Tribunal order prohibits parking of vehicles aged over 15 years in public areas.
The government also plans to phase out nearly 90 per cent of CNG-driven public transport buses in Delhi by December 2025, replacing them with electric buses to promote cleaner and more sustainable transport.
According to the Delhi government, 11,000 buses, including around 8,000 e-buses, will be procured by 2026.
Sirsa said procurement of 3,680 e-buses will be completed by September this year to encourage people to avail public transport for their daily commute.
During the meeting, the minister was informed that around 7,600 buses, including 2002 e-buses, are plying in Delhi, another official said.In November, the Centre for Science and Environment said in its report that vehicular emission is the top contributor to Delhi’s pollution during winters — more than stubble burning, road dust or bursting of firecrackers — with over 50 per cent of pollution from local sources linked to the city’s fragmented transportation system.Nischal Singhania, the president of the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association, welcomed the move and said, “Vehicles older than 15 years are already banned in Delhi by the Supreme Court.”
“We already have apparatus to detect vehicles without pollution under control (PUC) certificates. I think those can be used to detect vehicles older than 15 years,” he said.
Bhavreen Kandhari, an environmentalist, said there is no scientific study that proves only vehicles older than 15 years are responsible for air pollution. (PTI)