It's 2 pm and several green and yellow autorickshaws are in queue at the Bahadurshah Zafar Marg petrol pump. So are a dozen cars. A man, carrying only a plastic container, walks up to the manager at the pump. "Sir bottle me petrol milega kya (Will you give me petrol in a bottle),” he asked. "We can't do that. please go away," the manager replied. Tuesday was the first day of the fuel ban on end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) — diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles over 15 years – in the Capital. While 80 vehicles were seized, 98 people, whose vehicles could not be impounded, were issued notices on Tuesday, a senior officer from the Delhi Transport department stated. To implement the ban, 350 teams from various departments, including the Delhi Police, the MCD and the Transport department, have been stationed 24×7 across the 498 petrol pumps in the Capital. Among these petrol pumps, The Indian Express visited 10 on Tuesday. In all the 498 petrol pumps, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras have been installed to scan licence plates for vehicles and instantly cross-check their details against the data registered in the Union government's VAHAN portal. In case the vehicle is flagged as ELV or lacking a valid Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC), an audio alert is sent to the petrol pump operator. "A Maruti 800, which was used to deliver drinking water at our pump, has now stopped coming," the pump manager at Bahadurshah Zafar Marg told The Indian Express. "Whenever that car used to come, the microphone raised an alert – 'don't refuel this vehicle, it's 15 years old',” an employee who has been working at the petrol pump said. The APNR cameras had been installed at the station three months ago, he added. "Since morning, 600 vehicles have come here. None of them were ELVs. However, 10-12 people have asked us for petrol in containers. We have refused every time," the manager said. At 100 petrol pumps, Delhi Police personnel have also been deployed. "We have impounded one vehicle since morning. The ANPRs are very helpful. these announce whenever the cameras spot an old vehicle," a police officer deployed at the Ashram Chowk petrol pump said. Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Ajay Chaudhary said, “Though we have seized over 18,000 ELVs vehicles till now in 2025, no major impact could be seen on the pollution levels. A decision to stop giving fuel has been taken to ensure that such vehicle owners either move their vehicles out of Delhi or hand them over to the scrappers.” “All the agencies involved, Delhi Transport department, MCD, Delhi Traffic Police and local police are working together. No unpleasant incident has occurred so far,” he added. At the Nizamuddin West Petrol pump, an employee told The Indian Express, "Since morning, 1,200 cars had come to the pump, but none were ELVs. I think the main reason is that people are aware of what's happening.” "Officials from MCD, Transport department and Delhi Police have been visiting us for the last few weeks. We are complying with orders. If someone with an old vehicle misbehaves with us when we refuse to give fuel, we call the police," he added. Since morning, 1,200 cars had come to the pump, but none were ELVs, he said. The ban follows orders issued earlier this year by the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM), which mandated that fuel be denied to ELVs starting July 1. According to CAQM estimates, Delhi-NCR’s transport sector contributes about 28% of PM 2.5, 41% of SO2 (sulphur dioxide), and 78% of NOX (nitrous oxide) emissions to overall air pollution.
