Listen To This Post
Automated Cameras to Detect and Block Fuel Supply to Polluting Vehicles; Action Expands to NCR by 2026
THE NEWS DOSE DESK
New Delhi, June 21
Starting July 1, all end-of-life (EOL) vehicles—diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years—will be denied fuel at filling stations across Delhi, regardless of where they are registered, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) announced on Friday.
The move, part of an aggressive enforcement strategy to curb vehicular pollution, will apply uniformly to all EOL vehicles, including those registered outside Delhi and the NCR to improve air quality in the NCR by reducing emissions from legacy vehicles, a major source of particulate and NOx pollution. It follows a series of judicial and administrative interventions over the past decade that have sought to enforce the vehicle age cap in Delhi, with limited success until now.
Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) Cameras in Place
As part of the rollout, 500 out of 520 fuel stations in Delhi have already installed Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, with the remaining stations expected to complete the process by June 30. These cameras, linked with the VAHAN database, will automatically detect overage or polluting vehicles and send alerts to a central command centre and enforcement teams.
“We’ve ensured that technology will do the first screening,” said Virinder Sharma, Member (Technical), CAQM. “Whether a vehicle is registered in Delhi or outside, if it is overage, it will be flagged.”
Enforcement and Penalties
CAQM has constituted 100 enforcement teams comprising officials from the traffic and transport departments, who will be responsible for impounding and initiating scrapping procedures under the Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF) Rules. Strict legal action will also be taken against fuel stations found violating the ban.
Fuel stations have been directed to refuse service to vehicles without valid pollution under control (PUC) certificates or those flagged by the ANPR system.
Staggered Rollout in NCR
This mechanism will extend to five high-vehicle-density NCR districts—Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, and Sonipat—from November 1, 2025, with ANPR installation to be completed by October 31. The rest of the National Capital Region (NCR) has been given time until March 31, 2026, with enforcement beginning from April 1, 2026.
CAQM officials clarified that the policy aims to discourage Delhi residents from registering their vehicles outside the capital to circumvent age and fuel norms. “Such diversionary tactics must be deterred,” Sharma said, adding that EOL buses registered anywhere in India will also be flagged, with separate directions to restrict their movement in Delhi-NCR.
Scale of the Problem
According to CAQM, Delhi alone has 62 lakh end-of-life vehicles, including 41 lakh two-wheelers. Across the NCR, the number stands at around 44 lakh, with a significant concentration in the five targeted cities.
Despite multiple directives from the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT), officials admit that compliance in phasing out EOL vehicles has been poor.
Technological Backbone
The system will rely on a network of ANPR cameras, integrated with traffic surveillance systems and Integrated Command and Control Centres. This data ecosystem will help in real-time detection, alerting, and response against polluting vehicles.
What Owners Can Do
Owners of overage vehicles still have the option of applying for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to relocate the vehicle outside Delhi-NCR, where it can continue to be used, subject to local regulations.
