From July 1, your old car or scooter won’t get fuel in Delhi. Here are the details

The central tool in this effort is a network of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, now operational at all 520 fuel stations in Delhi. These systems, linked to the VAHAN database, are designed to detect overaged and non-compliant vehicles in real time.

From July 1, when a vehicle enters a fuel station in Delhi, ANPR cameras will scan the licence plate and instantly cross-check details against the VAHAN registry. If the vehicle is flagged as ELV or lacking a valid Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC), the system will issue an audio alert to the operator. For example, the alert may say: “DL XX XX XXXX is an EoL vehicle. Not to be fuelled.”

Fuel station staff have been instructed to deny fuel to such vehicles. Enforcement teams comprising officials from the Delhi Transport Department and Delhi Traffic Police will make periodic rounds to monitor compliance.

Apart from denying fuel to ELVs flagged by the system, the broader enforcement plan also includes impounding flagged vehicles, scrapping through Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facilities (RVSFs) in NCR, and issuing No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) for owners wishing to transfer such vehicles out of Delhi.

Key dates in the action plan:

– July 1: Enforcement begins in Delhi.

– October 31: Plan comes into effect in five High Vehicle Density districts — Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, and Sonipat.

– April 1, 2026: Rest of NCR.

As per official data, Delhi has 62 lakh end-of-life vehicles, including 41 lakh two-wheelers and 18 lakh four-wheelers. The rest of the NCR has another 44 lakh ELVs, underscoring the scale of the cleanup exercise.

Officials said traffic surveillance cameras and Integrated Command and Control Centres will also be used to monitor road traffic and identify overaged vehicles still in circulation. The enforcement teams will issue penalties and initiate impoundments based on real-time data.

This plan is grounded in a series of legal directives: a 2015 National Green Tribunal order prohibiting the use of overaged vehicles; a 2018 Supreme Court ruling upholding this ban; and the 2021 vehicle scrapping policy by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Under current rules, vehicles impounded for a second time will be sent directly to RVSFs. Owners of vehicles from outside Delhi-NCR can be fined Rs 10,000 for four-wheeler ELVs and Rs 5,000 for two-wheeler ELVs. Owners may apply for release within three weeks of impoundment, and authorities are to decide on such applications within seven days.

So far, 3.63 crore vehicles have been screened under the ANPR system in Delhi. Of these, 4.90 lakh have been identified as End-of-Life. Since the system’s trial launch in December 2024, 29.52 lakh vehicles have renewed their PUCCs, and fines worth Rs 168 crore have been issued for violations.

According to Dr Virender Sharma, Member (Technical) at CAQM, the transition to a tech-driven approach was necessary due to poor enforcement under manual systems. “The orders existed, but implementation was weak. This new system brings real-time, on-ground enforcement through technology,” he said.

Dr Sharma added that older vehicles such as BS-III emit up to six times more NOx and 4.5 times more Particulate Matter than BS-VI compliant vehicles, making their removal critical to the region’s air quality, especially ahead of the winter smog season.

The CAQM has clarified that BS VI-compliant vehicles in petrol, diesel, CNG, and EV categories are widely available and will continue to be allowed on roads. The goal of the plan is to systematically liquidate the most polluting segment of the vehicle fleet, thereby reducing Delhi-NCR’s transport sector emissions, it said.

In the months ahead, daily enforcement drives will be carried out and reports submitted to the Environment Department, which will forward them to the Commission, as per the guidelines. Vehicles flagged by the ANPR system will face either impoundment or mandatory scrapping, with options for relocation outside NCR available in limited cases.

“It needs no emphasis,” the air monitor said in a statement Friday, “that the transport sector’s contribution to NCR’s air pollution is significant. This action plan prioritises the removal of the most polluting vehicles — those built before current emission norms.”