Delhi govt scrambles with ‘all out efforts’ to fix overaged vehicle ban

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Thursday urged the Centre's air quality panel to immediately suspend the fuel ban on overage vehicles and said it will also make "all out efforts" to resolve issues related to restrictions on the movement of end-of-life vehicles on the city's roads.

In his letter to Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) chairman Rajesh Verma, Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the fuel ban is not feasible and that it cannot be implemented due to technological challenges.

The move three days after the ban came into effect in the national capital.

No overage vehicle was impounded by teams of traffic police and transport department on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference, Sirsa said that there was discontent among people due to the move and the BJP government stood with them.

The minister also said the Delhi government is trying to find out a solution to the ban on end of life vehicles (EOL), including 10-year and older diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said that her government will make "all out efforts" for the resolution of problems related to the ban on end-of-life vehicles.

A 2018 Supreme Court judgment banned diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years in Delhi.

A 2014 National Green Tribunal (NGT) order also prohibits the parking of vehicles aged over 15 years in public places.

The chief minister said that some people are emotionally attached to vehicles if they are gifted by a close person, like a father.

Such vehicles are just keepsakes and often they have not been driven many kilometres, she at a Van Mahotsav programme organised by the Delhi government.

Talking about the CAQM fuel ban on overage vehicles, the environment minister said that the government was receiving complaints from people due to which it has urged the CAQM to reconsider its direction in view of the widespread difficulties being faced by residents of the capital.

The daily lives and livelihoods of lakhs of citizens are dependent on these vehicles. The sudden denial of fuel supply has disrupted transportation, trade and personal mobility, causing significant inconvenience, he added.

"We are trying to ensure the vehicles are not banned according to their age rather on the basis of pollution caused by them," Sirsa said.

Citing various challenges and problems faced in implementing the ban on refuelling of overage vehicles since July 1, the minister said, "We have told CAQM that we are not able to implement this." In his letter to the CAQM chairperson, Sirsa also suggested that fuel ban on overage vehicles should be implemented across the National Capital Region (NCR).

The transport department and traffic police since July 1 have been impounding end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) stopping at fuel pumps. As far as the implementation of fuel ban, there are several critical operational and infrastructural challenges, and it will not be "feasible to implement this order at this juncture", Sirsa said in his letter.

The move could even be potentially counterproductive, he added.

"Because of the technological inconsistencies of this extremely complex system and lack of integration with neighbouring states, there is public discontent and outcry and in the said circumstances, it is not feasible to implement this system to end of life vehicles identified through ANPR cameras installed at Petrol pumps in Delhi," said the minister.

He said that automated number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras have been installed at most of the fuel stations, but the system is facing problems like technological glitches, camera placement, sensor and speaker malfunction, which prevent identification of the overage vehicles without high security registration plates.

The minister said the ban in Delhi will not serve its purpose as owners of overage vehicles may get fuel from NCR cities like Gurugram, Faridabad and Ghaziabad, where there's no such imposition.

The ANPR camera system is also not implemented in the neighbouring states which will again be an issue when the fuel ban is implemented there.

The minister in his letter listed several steps taken by the Delhi government to combat air pollution, including implementation of a new pollution under control (PUC) certificate regime to ensure stricter compliance, particularly for out of state vehicles.

The government is also trying to create a system which sends an SMS to the owners of overage vehicles 2-3 months ahead to plan a phase-out.

"We strongly urge the Commission to put the implementation of its direction on hold with immediate effect till the ANPR system is seamlessly integrated across the entire NCR," he said.

Sirsa also blamed the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi for enforcing the overage vehicle ban instead of challenging it before the court and the National Green Tribunal.

The Opposition AAP said that public pressure forced the BJP government to withdraw the "controversial" ban, calling it a "victory of people" and an example of the government's double standards on the court's orders.

In a video message posted on X, Delhi AAP chief Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “Congratulations to the people of Delhi. The draconian order to seize old vehicles had to be withdrawn by Delhi's BJP government.