Starting Tuesday, Delhi will begin enforcing a fuel ban on End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) — diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles over 15 years. A total of 350 teams from various departments will be stationed 24x7 across all 498 fuel stations in the city to implement the measure. The enforcement drive follows orders issued earlier this year by the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM), which mandated that ELVs be denied fuel in Delhi starting July 1. As part of a phased rollout, a similar ban will take effect in five high vehicle density districts — Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, and Sonipat — from November this year. The rest of the National Capital Region (NCR) will come under the ban from April next year. Additionally, from November, vehicles registered in other states that are not BS VI, CNG, LNG, or electric will be banned from entering Delhi. According to internal documents, the enforcement plan is as follows: -Delhi Police personnel will be deployed at 100 fuel stations. These will be standalone teams. -In addition, 59 exclusive teams of the Transport Department will operate independently at designated locations. -Furthermore, 91 joint teams comprising Transport Department and Delhi Police officials will be stationed at 160-250 fuel outlets. These teams will be empowered to issue challans, with 91 police officers having been granted such authority by the Transport Department in 2020. -The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will also participate, deploying teams at 100 other fuel stations with the mandate to impound overage vehicles. The deployment plan was approved by the Secretary-cum-Commissioner of the Transport Department and shared with the Special Commissioner (Traffic) of Delhi Police and the MCD Commissioner. Given that there are 498 fuel stations in Delhi — 382 offering petrol or diesel and 116 offering CNG — the teams will be rotated across locations. A transport department official explained that deployment is based on fuel station locations and traffic patterns. “Areas with lower vehicle traffic will see smaller teams, and hotspots with high numbers of ELVs will be identified. Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras will also help plug any gaps,” the official said. In line with CAQM’s directive and National Green Tribunal guidelines, ANPR camera systems have been installed at all fuel stations. These systems will cross-check vehicle data against the VAAHAN database, alert station operators, and play an audio message if an overage vehicle is detected.
