Delhi chokes: PMO flags vehicles, 37% non-compliant, calls for EVs

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Senior government officials told The Indian Express that the emphasis on transportation comes against the backdrop of Delhi’s disproportionate vehicle load: Of the NCR’s 2.97 crore registered vehicles, nearly 1.57 crore are in Delhi — a city that occupies only 2.7 per cent of the NCR’s geographical area.

With the Commission for Air Quality Management, a statutory body set up by the Supreme Court, highlighting transportation and vehicular pollution as the key concerns, the Prime Minister’s Office asked all four states bordering Delhi viz., Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab, to urgently take measures “to adopt practical and result-oriented measures for visible improvement in air quality”.

Driven by a mix of stubble-burning and vehicular emissions over the fortnight since the meeting of the high-level task force, the capital city’s AQI veered into the ‘severe’ range from November 11-13.

To tighten enforcement, it is learnt, the NCR states of Delhi, UP, Haryana and Rajasthan were urged to deploy their ANPR (automatic number plate recognition), RFID (radio frequency identification) and ITMS (integrated traffic management) systems.

Data shows that among electric two-wheelers, only 4,419 were registered in October in Delhi, taking this year’s total to 31,447. In sharp contrast, officials noted, more than double this number was registered as petrol-run two-wheelers (78,114) in October alone.

It was pointed out that EV adoption was weak among four-wheeler users, too, with 2,331 EVs and EV-hybrid private four-wheelers being registered in October. From January to October this year, a total of 17,942 such vehicles were registered.

On the other hand, 1,27,099 petrol or diesel-run private four-wheelers were registered this year, according to a fuel-wise analysis of registered vehicles on the Government’s VAHAN dashboard.

In this regard, among the decisions taken at the meeting was to review and revise EV policies to accelerate the transition across two-wheelers, three-wheelers, cars, buses and commercial vehicles, with clear timelines and implementation mechanisms across the NCR state governments.

These states were also advised to expeditiously notify cab and bike aggregator policies and develop a unified portal for monitoring, it learnt. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has been asked to expedite a scientific study on pollution from vehicles running on fossil fuels.

According to official data for the capital region, the average PM10 levels from October 15 to November 25 have been around 295 ug/m3, while the average PM2.5 levels have been 171 ug/m3 during this same period. The WHO’s safe standards specify that PM2.5 levels (24 hours) should not exceed 15ug/m3 and PM10 45 ug/m3.

Data from the Decision Support System (DSS) of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology showed that the transport sector remained the major contributor to air pollution this season, accounting for 14-20% between November 1 and 22. The Centre for Science and Environment’s analysis of DSS data estimated that half of particulate matter pollution can be caused by vehicles alone in the winter.

Vehicles have previously been flagged as top pollutants in studies carried out by multiple agencies, such as IIT-Kanpur, Energy Research Institute and SAFAR. In 2018, an emissions inventory prepared by The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) found that the transport sector’s contribution to emissions was the highest at 81 per cent, followed by power plants at seven per cent.

What has also triggered the shift in focus to transport is data showing that farm fire incidents have been declining. The count has been at a five-year low for this season from September 15 to November 24 — 27,720 cases detected in Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan and MP, compared to 32,584 in 2024, 54,727 in 2023, 65,881 in 2022 and 85,915 in 2021.