Delhi bans entry of old cars starting today, no fuel without pollution certificate

PTC News Desk: Vehicles that do not comply with BS-VI emission standards will be barred from entering the national capital starting today, as the Delhi government steps up its anti-pollution drive. In addition, fuel stations will refuse service to vehicles lacking a valid Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate.

The restriction on non-BS-VI vehicles is expected to affect nearly 12 lakh vehicles that enter Delhi daily from neighbouring cities such as Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Noida. This includes more than 4 lakh vehicles from Noida, around 2 lakh from Gurugram, and about 5.5 lakh from Ghaziabad.

To enforce the rules, 580 police personnel will be deployed for vehicle inspections, along with 37 enforcement vans positioned at 126 checkpoints. 

Staff from the Transport Department, Municipal Corporation and Food Department will also be stationed at petrol pumps. The city has already installed automatic number plate recognition cameras at fuel stations to detect vehicles without valid PUC certificates.

Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa announced the measures on Tuesday, stating that they will remain in effect as long as Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) is enforced in the capital. The government cited studies showing that vehicles contribute 19.7 per cent of PM10 and 25.1 per cent of PM2.5 pollution during the winter months.