Delhi to pause fuel ban on old vehicles? Here's what you need to know

Following a massive backlash from the people over the ban on the use of End of Life vehicles in the national capital, the Delhi government on Thursday (Jul 3) wrote to the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), saying that the fuel ban rule on old vehicles is not feasible due to technological challenges and complex systems. Speaking at a press conference, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that there was discontent among the people over the move and the government stood with them.

In April, the CAQM issued guidelines for fuel stations stating that end-of-life (EOL) vehicles should not be given fuel from July 1. These include diesel vehicles that are older than 10 years and petrol vehicles that are older than 15 years. The ban applies to all ELVs, whether registered in Delhi or not.

“We will clean the environment of Delhi and will not allow the vehicles of Delhi to be confiscated. This is the resolution of our Delhi Chief Minister, Rekha Gupta ji, towards the people of Delhi, this is her promise to the people of Delhi... It will be better if this system is implemented in the entire NCR and then it is implemented in Delhi. We are also looking for a solution that the vehicles should not be banned on the basis of age, but should be banned considering their pollution capacity,” Sirsa said.

He added, “We have informed them that the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras that were installed are not a robust system, and there are still many challenges with them. Technical glitches, non-working sensors, and malfunctioning speakers, all these challenges are there. It has not been integrated with the NCR data yet. It is not able to identify HSRP plates. We also said that such a law has not been implemented in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad and the rest of NCR till now.”

In the letter to the CAQM asking to hold the ban, the minister wrote, “We urge the Commission to put the implementation of Direction No. 89 on hold with immediate effect till the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system is seamlessly integrated across the entire NCR. We are confident that the ongoing multi-pronged efforts of the Delhi Government will achieve substantial improvements in air quality.”

The ban, which was proposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2014, was aimed at controlling the air pollution in Delhi. However, it has resulted in public anger, who argued that vehicles should not be banned based on their age but on their pollution emission.